Wraith Slayer
by Gypsy Druid
Summary: Buffy dies during 'Chosen' and is given the choice of remaining dead and at peace, or continuing the fight in Pegasus Galaxy. Xover w Stargate & Stargate Atlantis
1. Prologue

Wraith Slayer

By: Gypsy Druid

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from BtVS, SG-1 or SGA. I'm just borrowing them, and I have to get them back before someone notices that they're missing. Unfortunately, no profit has been or will ever be made from this story.

Spoilers: Alternate Ending for BtVS Series Finale, 'Chosen', and Alternate Beginning for Stargate: Atlantis Series Pilot, 'Rising' Parts I & II

Rated R for Violence (c'mon… It's Buffy & the Gang & the SG Teams vs. the Wraith. There should be blood and body parts flying everywhere) and Sex (Some M/F and some F/F, but nothing too explicit)

A/N: The Scooby got a lot more serious after Buffy's death, although they should lighten up after being reunited.

A/N: This story has not been beta-read. Simply because I couldn't find a beta-reader. If anyone notices anything blatantly wrong, please let me know.

Anything I've missed (disclaimer related) I can't think of it at the moment, but it still applies.

Prologue

"C'mon, B, we gotta get out of here." Faith screamed, drawing her attention from Spike. "The whole thing's coming down.

"Go on, luv." Spike managed through clenched teeth. "Take care of the Niblet for me, yeah?"

Buffy nodded tearfully and backed away. With a last whispered goodbye, she turned and ran for the entrance to the hellmouth. Just as she cleared the last ledge, there was a violent tremor, making her stumble into the path of a large boulder, which pinned her to the side of the wall.

"B!" Faith cried, flinching at the older Slayer's agonized scream. She was at the blonde's side in an instant, struggling to push the boulder aside, even though she suspected it wouldn't matter.

"Faith, stop." Buffy coughed. Faith looked up to see blood in her mouth. "Faith, my body's crushed. It's the only thing keeping me alive right now."

"No! I can get you out!" Faith was crying. Despite their differences, Buffy was the closest thing she had to family. "I can't leave you here!"

"Faith, listen to me!" Buffy grabbed her leather jacket and pulled her closer. "You have to take care of them, okay. You have to take care of the Scoobies and the Potentials, but especially D-Dawn. Willow and G-Giles have legal guardians-ship of her, but y-you have to h-help." Buffy coughed again and blood trickled down to her chin. "You can do this. Remember that I believe in you until you can believe in yourself."

Another violent tremor reminded them of what little time they had. "Get out of here. Take care of them and tell them that I love them."

Gathering the last of her strength, Buffy shoved Faith as hard as she could, sending the dark Slayer flying back down the entranceway. Before Faith could get back to her feet, the opening collapsed, blocking her way back.

"_NO!_" She screamed. "_Buffy!_"

She moved the rocks until she had no choice but to run or die.

"I'll take care of them, B." Faith whispered as she ran. "I swear it."

- BtVS - SG-1 - SG:A -

Buffy laid her head back against the wall and cried softly as her sensitive ears heard Faith's screaming on the other side of the rocks separating them. She sighed in relief when Faith finally, finally ran out of the collapsing hellmouth. A sigh which was immediately followed by a moan of pain. Then, everything suddenly stopped, and Buffy looked up to see a glowing white something floating before her.

"Hello, Buffy." A soft, familiar voice spoke.

"Who are you?" Buffy asked.

The glow shifted and faded into a familiar figure. It was also one that the First had rarely used. "Tara?"

"I'm not the First, Buffy." Tara quickly assured her, walking up and taking Buffy's hand. "I Ascended when I died. A good Ascending, not like your mayor."

Tears trickled down pale cheeks. "I'm sorry things got so out of control with Willow. I should have been paying attention more, but I was too wrapped up in my own misery."

"It's not your fault." Tara told her. "It was going to happen sooner or later anyway."

"I don't understand."

"I know, but rest assured that it was necessary."

"Okay." Buffy figured that it wasn't worth arguing about, especially now. "Are you here to take me back to Heaven?"

Tara's expression turned sad. "Actually, I'm here to ask you to stay, in a matter of speaking."

Buffy laid her head down on the boulder and sighed, not even really surprised.

"Please, hear me out." Tara begged.

"Only for you, Tara." Buffy whispered wearily.

"When I said that I was asking, I meant it. The Powers That Be don't know that I'm here. This place, in the moment of your death, they can't see into. Only the Ascended can travel here, and only to those that have earned it."

"You'd better talk fast, then, cause we don't have much time."

"We have all the time we need. Time has no meaning here."

"Oh, all right then."

"There is a war going on, being fought by human Champions, against an alien race that wants to rule the universe. Thousands of years ago, a race called the Anqueetas created a way to travel instantly between worlds in different galaxies, kind of like a highway. Another race, called the Goa'uld, discovered the highway and used it to travel to other planets and take people as hosts and slaves. They came here, took a bunch of people to different planets and said that they were gods, until one of them tried to take a Slayer."

Buffy smirked. "Let me guess, it didn't take?"

Tara chuckled. "No, it didn't. the demon essence of the Slayer rejected the foreign invader. It's the same reason why Slayers can't be turned."

"So, what happened?"

"The Slayer treated the Goa'uld like all the other demons. Eventually, humans rose up, dove the Goa'uld away and buried the Stargate."

"So somebody unburied it and now we're back to square one and I'm supposed to help fight the Goolds?"

Tara grinned at the mispronunciation. "Not exactly. For now, it's the humans' problem. There will come a time when Slayers will have to get involved, but that will be Faith's job."

"So what do you need me for?"

"First, I want you to know that this is completely your choice. If you wish, you can remain dead and at peace. Even Willow will not be able to bring you back this time, because you're dying in a cave-in."

"All right, let's hear it."

"When I died, an Ascended called Oma Desala came to me. In the place where they live, time has no real meaning, like here. We can see the past, the present and the future. The near Ascension of one of the Goa'ulds is one of the reasons why The Powers That Be allowed the Slayer Awakening spell to work. Oma Desala wanted my help with a future threat. While trying to fight this Super Goa'uld, the humans will discover the lost city of the Anqueetas in a far away galaxy, and they will accidentally awaken creatures called the Wraith, who use humans for food."

"What does this have to do with me?"

"The Anqueetas, or Ancients as they're now called, helped populate the Earth, and today there are people with their genetics lying dormant in their DNA. You are the only Slayer, since the beginning, that has the Ancient gene. If you agree, you will be taken to Atlantis to help fight the Wraith with the Stargate team when they arrive. You will be placed in stasis, a kind of deep sleep, until the Wraith are awakened. Your Slayer abilities will be evolved and the Wraith will not be able to feed off of you because of the demon essence. Oma Desala and I have already put plans in place in case you agree."

"How long will I have to wait?"

"A century. You'll wake up every few decades at the height of the Wraith's cullings and we will provide you with the weapons that you prefer. You'll know how to operate the Stargate as well as your stasis chamber to put yourself back to sleep. The first time you awaken, your last memory will be of throwing Faith. You will know that you made this choice willingly, but you will only have a vague recollection of this."

Buffy thought hard. She was tired of fighting, but she had to admit, in the past few years, she had grown to love the hunt and the kill. That was scaring the crap out of her. This time, however, it was her choice. If she wanted to continue fighting this time, it was be her decision. She would get to rest and recharge for having to fight again. Could she do it? Did she even want to? Then she thought of Dawn, Willow, Xander and Giles. Even Faith and Kennedy and all the other Potentials turned Slayers. She couldn't let them became food for some monster from another planet. Finally, she focused on Tara once again. "I have a few conditions."

Tara grinned again. "I figured you would."

"I have to tell the others. I can't just leave them."

"You never ask for anything small, do you?" Tara sighed. "Once they are all asleep at the same time, I can pull them into a dreamscape where you can talk to them."

"You said that this is something that's going to happen in the future. Can they be given the chance to join me if they wish?"

"I already made plans for that. Everything will be set in motion if you agree, but you can't tell them."

"All right." Buffy said after a moment. "For Dawn and the others, I'll do it."

"Oh, I almost forgot that there might be a side effect to your evolved abilities."

"A side effect?"

Tara's eyes sparkled with mischief. "You might feel the urge to mate."

"What?!" Buffy exclaimed as Tara turned into a white glowy thing again. "What do you mean, _mate_?"

But Tara had already disappeared, and the moment of her death continued. She was still thinking about it when she took her last breath.


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One

Stargate Command, Colorado Springs, CO

Jack O'Neill looked at his computer screen as his New Mail Notification sounded. It was after hours and anybody with reason to be emailing him should already be in bed. Hell, he should be in bed, and he would be if it wasn't for all this damned paperwork. Curious, he clicked his mouse to open the mail.

_Brigadier General Jack O'Neill (with two L's)_

_I have some information that should be of interest regarding your upcoming trip to Atlantis in the Pegasus Galaxy. If you wish to know more, please be available in one week for an incoming group instant messaging session. I'm not sure what time, but I think you've got enough people to keep an eye out for the necessary link._

_P.S. Before you have Lieutenant Colonel Carter attempt to trace this message, I should tell you that it has been sitting in cyberspace for several years and originated in __Sunnydale__CA_

Jack read the message twice more before he got over his shock. He looked at the sender's address. He didn't know any McClay's. Hell, no college kid across the freaking country should even know who he was. He picked up the phone.

"Hello?" said a faint, groggy voice.

"Carter, I need you to come in right now." Jack said tersely. "We may have a breach."

- BtVS - SG-1 - SG:A -

Watcher's Council HQ, Cleveland, Ohio

"Special Delivery."

Willow's head snapped up in shock. That was the special Mail Notification sound file that she had attached to messages from Tara. She hadn't heard that in years. With shaking fingers, she opened the message.

_Hey, Honey_

_Don't freak out. Close your eyes and take a deep breath._

Tears started as she did as she was told. Tara had known her so well.

_I know you're crying right now, and I'm sorry. The one who came and got me when I died allowed me to send this message. I would have sent it to you before now, but I'm working on a specific time from to, as usual, save the world. Not an apocalypse this time, but an alien threat in the far future (for Earth anyway). Take a breath, __Willow_

Willow gasped. She hadn't even realized she had been holding it in.

_A few years ago, you and the other Scoobies were pulled into a common dreamscape where Buffy told you she was leaving to fight another battle far away. It's almost time for the humans from Earth to join that battle. One week from today, you will be receive a link to join a group instant message with a group of people who will be directly involved in this war, although they don't know it yet, so don't tell them. Talk to the others, Will. This will be the only chance for you, Xander and Dawn to join Buffy, but if you go, there is a very big chance that you will never get back here. So, talk it over with them. Make a decision and make plans, because if you all decide not to go, you will at least have to send her a message. Remember, one week from today. I don't know what time, so keep the computer on._

_I love you __Willow__, and I miss you._

_Tara_

_PS I'm sorry things didn't work out with Kennedy, but she wasn't good enough for you anyway._

Willow laughed despite her tears. She looked over at the pictures next to her monitor. It was a three sectioned frame with Buffy and Angel, Xander and Anya, and her and Tara. She was so glad that they had decided to send their precious items to storage outside of Sunnydale when the people started evacuating. She fell asleep with tears in her eyes and her fingers on the monitor next to Tara's name.

- BtVS - SG-1 - SG:A -

The White House, Washington, DC

"You have mail."

President Henry Hayes glared at the computer screen as he opened the mail. "Damn it, it's after one o'clock in the morning. Who would be sending me e-mail?"

_Mr. President_

_I'm sorry to disturb you. My name is Tara McClay, and I am friend of Buffy Summers in __Sunnydale__CA__. I sent this e-mail several years ago to be delivered at this time. By the time you receive this, Buffy Summers will have been reported dead in the collapse of Sunnydale. The truth is, she was removed and placed on Atlantis. I am aware that a team will soon be heading for Atlantis, but both you and I know how Buffy feels about the Military. In one week, there will be group instant message between the core Scoobies, Buffy's most trusted friends, and Stargate Command. They will need your help to explain that Buffy is on the lost city and that she has problems with the Military. The may wish to join her, and so they will need you to authorize it. You will receive the link in one week from today._

_Thank You._

_Tara_

_PS I know that you received the report of my death. I Ascended with the help of Oma Desala and did this before they told me I wasn't supposed to. ;)_

President Hayes laughed out loud. He had indeed read the report of the young Miss McClay's murder, and all that happened afterwards. From what her file said, he was not surprised that she Ascended, and from what he knew of Ms. Summers' friends, he suspected she would have done this even if the others had told her about their non-interference rule.


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

"I still haven't been able to find anything, sir." Samantha Carter to General O'Neill. "Sunnydale, California collapsed in a sinkhole three years ago and the only reference to a T. McClay from UC Sunnydale is a death certificate for a Tara McClay. She was shot."

"I want to know what the hell is going on here."

Before anyone could answer, the computer chimed. Group Video-VoiceIM ready. Do you wish to enter?

"Sir?" Carter asked.

Jack thought fast and hard. "Do it. This might be the only way to get some answers."

Carter click on yes and the IM window opened. Stargate Command has entered the chat.

"That can't be good." Daniel remarked.

The computer chimed again before Jack could respond, much to Daniel's relief, and a video window opened to see a group of young adults and an older man. Scooby Gang has entered the chat.

"The Scooby Gang?" Jack said instead. "As in the Scooby Doo cartoon?"

Their eyes nearly bugged out of their heads as the computer chimed again and a window opened to the President, George Hammond and Major Paul Davis. President Hayes has entered the chat.

"Wow, President Hayes, the President Hayes, as in the President of the Unites States, President Hayes, I mean I voted for him and now I get to talk to him and…"

"Willow!" The others in her group said at the same time.

"Good Afternoon, Ms. Rosenberg."

"Hey, he knows who I am." Willow said. "Nifty."

The President chucked. The member of Stargate Command looked at each other in shock as the President continued. "Can we get some introductions please?"

"Uh, yes, sir, Mr. President." Jack managed. "General Jack O'Neill, Air Force. Also with me are Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter, Dr. Daniel Jackson and Dr. Elizabeth Weir."

"Hi." Willow greeted cheerfully. "I'm Willow Rosenberg. This is Xander Harris, Dawn Summers, Faith Lehane and Rupert Giles." She pointed to each person in turn.

"Well, we already know who I am." The President remarked. "This is General George Hammond and Major Paul Davis. I must ask, is this one of your programs, Ms. Rosenberg."

"Yes, it is. It's a program for business travelers to connect to their offices. It browser based, so they can use it as long as they've got an internet connection. The code is completely embedded, so it can't be hacked, and so the connections are completely secure."

She would have continued, but the youngest one, Dawn Summers, put a hand over her mouth. "You have news about Buffy?"

"Ah, yes, Ms. Summers. I was sorry to hear about your sister. I wanted to attend the funeral, but they rushed me out of the country the moment Sunnydale began evacuating." He rolled his eyes. "As if that would have helped."

"Hey, I like him." The one called Faith suddenly exclaimed. "He's got some sense."

The Military men and women nearly choked on their shock, especially when the President merely laughed. "Why, thank you, Faith. Coming from you, that's quite a compliment."

Finally, he cleared his throat. "I suppose everyone is wondering why we are here today."

Jack shook his head to clear it. "Yes, sir. I received a strange e-mail a week ago from someone who knew about the Stargate Program. We've tried to track them down, Mr. President, but so far we've had no luck."

"Don't worry about it, Jack. It's not important right now."

"Sir?" Now Jack was really confused. How could this not be important?

"You'll understand in a moment. Now, Ms. Rosenberg, I received my e-mail from Ms. McClay. I want to tell you that from our reports, she was a fine young woman and I am sorry for your loss."

Willow good cheer vanished. "Thank you, Mr. President."

"I will assume that by now you have found your way into government computers and found what you needed to know about the Stargate program." Jack, Sam and George Hammond were again shocked at his nonchalance of this obvious breach of security and Willow had the good grace to blush before nodding. "Please do not make that a habit, however, I would appreciate it if you would work with Colonel Carter to upgrade our security. Now, my email said that Buffy Summers had somehow been taken to Atlantis?"

"We're not sure. It seems that we were in a common dream about her a few nights after she died, but none of us really remember it." Rupert Giles answered him. "All we have to go is the e-mail that Willow received. If she is there, we don't know if it is for a reason or by some cosmic accident. We do know, however, that if she is approached by a Military team, she will not respond well."

"Yes, the Initiative did us no favors there."

"Mr. President, Sir." Jack interrupted. "Can someone tell me what's going on here? Who are these people and how do they know about us?"

"A young woman was killed in the Sunnydale collapse and somehow ended up in the Pegasus Galaxy. Unfortunately, she is highly trained, very dangerous, and really skittish regarding the military."

"Skittish." Faith snorted. "You clowns tried to kill her, then your freak tried to kill everyone else."

"Faith, please." Giles placed a hand on the young man's shoulder.

The President sighed and continued. "You will need a way to assure her that you mean her no harm. These are her family. If you find her, Dr. Weir, take good care of her. She's sacrificed much in her life and is a true hero in every sense of the word. I'd give her a medal, but there is really no way to acknowledge what she has done."

"And what is that, if I may ask?" Dr. Weir asked.

"After this, I'm sending you the Initiative records with George and Major Davis. You should all study them carefully, and I want to assure you, that they are indeed the truth."

"Mr. President, sir." Xander spoke up for the first time. "Tara's email said that we could go to her if you allow it."

"Mr. President, I have to protest." Jack almost shouted.

"I must protest as well." General Hammond said from the President's side.

"In a moment, gentlemen." The President responded before Major Davis could throw in his two cents. "Are you sure, Mr. Harris?"

"We talked it over. Buffy will need us more than Faith will, and Giles is going to stay here. Faith will have the Covens, the Council and the other Slayers, but even if Buffy had all of that too, she'd will still need us."

"Dawn?"

"I want to be with my sister, Mr. President."

"What about school?"

"Willow can teach me." The young girl sounded determined. "I'm sure there's gonna be a lot of other really smart people there, and I can probably read and speak more languages that that guy." She pointed at Daniel.

"Ms. Lehane?"

"Yeah?"

"How are you feeling about all of this?"

"I'm five by five, Mr. Prez." Faith leaned against the desk and uncharacteristically thought about her answer. "B stood by me despite everything that happened between us. Her and these guys are pretty much the closest thing I got to a family, but I can handle it alone. She can't. The X-Man's right. She needs them more than I do, and I'll still have Giles, Robin and the LA gang, not to mention all the other Slayers. Besides, I know Red'll eventually find a way back." Faith suddenly smirked. "B needs shoe stores almost as much as she needs family."

"Very well." The President decided. "Mr. Harris, you will go through Advanced Basic Training. You may not be military, but you're the closest thing to it that they have. I want to be sure you can do what needs to be done if necessary. Ms. Rosenberg, You will be in charge of Dawn's education. Dawn is correct. Some of our brightest minds are going on this expedition, so I will leave the curriculum up to you and Dr. Weir will maintain a running record. Ms. Rosenberg, keep working on your control. If we can't find the energy modules we need, you may be our only hope, but only as a last resort. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir." They answered.

"George, Jack, I want everyone in this little meeting to go over those records. I'll be available for questions tomorrow after dinner. Anything before that, you'll have to contact Mr. Giles. I'll have the necessary clearance for Willow, Xander and Dawn arranged in the morning. Have a good evening, ladies and gentlemen."


	4. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Stargate Command

"Is anyone besides me confused?" Jack asked.

Sam and Daniel raised their hands. After a moment, so did Dr. Weir. "Who are these people that can speak to the President like that and simply ask for and be granted permission to go on the most highly classified expedition on the planet?"

"I don't know." Daniel said. "I guess we'll find out when General Hammond gets here. Sam, are you all right?"

Sam's eyes had gone really wide. "I knew I recognized that name." She whispered. "Excuse me, sir. I'll be right back."

She returned a moment later with a file. Rosenberg, Willow A. "I thought I recognized her name. She's a genius, sir. Her IQ is higher than mine. She's virtually a prodigy in computers. She started selling programs when she was a sophomore in high school. A program that matches police missing reports with John or Jane Doe medical records. We were going to attempt to recruit her for the Stargate program, but we were told from high up in the brass to leave her alone. I was going to do some digging, but got caught up with working on Jennifer Haley. If anyone could hack into our security, sir, it would be her."

Jack was still reading the file when General Hammond and Major Davis walked into the briefing room. "All right people, let's see what we've got."

The two men set down full boxes on the table. Jack grabbed and leafed through the profile folders on top. Summers, Elizabeth Anne a.k.a Buffy (deceased). Giles, Rupert (see attached Interpol records). Summers, Dawn. Rosenberg, Willow. Harris, Alexander. McClay, Tara (deceased). Jenkins, Anya (deceased). Lehane, Faith. Angel a.k.a. Angelus. Spike a.k.a. William the Bloody a.k.a. Hostile #17 (deceased).

An hour later, Jack threw a report down on the table. "This is ridiculous. These aren't reports, these are science fiction novels."

"President Hayes seems certain that they're true." Dr. Weir said. "He pretty much told us so."

"I think the President's been taken for a fool." Jack responded.

"Jack, maybe you should keep an open mind. After all, we chase aliens around the galaxy?"

"Danny, this says that demons and vampires existed longer than humans. How come we've never seen any? You'd think, in all that time, someone would have noticed something!" He exclaimed. "I mean, c'mon. We've got two claiming to be vampires, two claiming to be witches, one says she's an ex-vengeance demon who used to grant wishes to scorned women and a convict multiple murderer."

"Maybe there's something on the videos." Daniel answered, pulling out one of the tapes. Buffy Summers vs. Agent Riley Finn's unit.

They watched the tape. By the time it was finished, everyone's mouth was hanging open in shock. "Did she just take out an entire highly trained military squad in under thirty seconds?" Major Davis asked softly.

They watched several other videos. One of implant procedure of Hostile #17 and the verification of efficiency. Their eyes widened as the bleach blonde man's face mutated into something horrific with a ridged forehead, yellow eyes and fangs. They saw the video of when Professor Maggie Walsh sent Buffy Summers after several vicious demons with an obviously faulty weapons and the Summers' girl reaction after she defeated the demons barehanded. Finally, they saw the final battle with Adam from the security video feed.

"Oh. My. Freaking. God." Jack finally said after they sat staring at a screen full of static for several minutes. "Everyone saw what I just saw, right?"

"Uh, yeah, Jack." Daniel answered. "I think so."

"Someone make some coffee." General Hammond said. "I think we need to finish going through these files."

It was five o'clock in the morning. Two pots of coffee were steaming on pot warmers in the middle of the table and everyone had full cups. Daniel had been to the one to finally come across the legend of the Slayer, and he had read it to the others. They were now sitting there trying to absorb their shock and disgust at what they'd just heard.

"How could someone or something pick a kid, and young girl, to fight a war like this alone?" Elizabeth Weir managed though her tears. "To have to fight every night without stop until she's finally killed and another girl has to do it. That's horrific."

The computer chimed and everyone looked up to see a video window appear with Willow Rosenberg on it. "Hey, what are you guys still doing on?" She paused and looked closer. "Did any of you get any sleep last night?"

General Hammond cleared his throat. "No, we didn't, Ms. Rosenberg. We've been going through the Initiative records. Is Mr. Giles available?"

"Sure, and call me Willow." She left, and they could faintly hear her calling Giles in the background. After a few minutes, the Britishman appeared.

"Ah, well, good morning." Giles greeted.

"Mr. Giles, as I told Willow, we have been going through the Initiative's records." General Hammond said. "I have to admit. This is all amazing, if not horrifying. Will you please tell us about Buffy Summers."

Giles began cleaning his glasses. "What I should tell you first is that Watchers Council routinely tracks down potential slayers to train them before they are called. Buffy Summers fell through the cracks and was called when she was fifteen years old. She manages to survive and defeat a Master Vampire by the name of Lothos, but in the process burned down her school gym. When she told her parents, they had her institutionalized until she recanted. Her parents divorced and she and her mother moved to Sunnydale, where we met. When she was sixteen we was defeated and drowned by a Master Vampire called The Master. Xander revived her with CPR, but it was enough to call the next Slayer. During the time, she had fallen in love with a vampire named Angel who had been cursed with a soul.

He replaced his glasses and bowed his head a moment before continuing. "When Buffy turned seventeen, they consummated their relationship. Unfortunately, because of the nature of the curse, it cost Angel his soul and released his demon, Angelus. Angelus went on to tell Buffy's mother of their relationship, thereby forcing to light the truth of her being a Slayer despite her recanting, and killed one of the teachers, Ms. Jenny Calender, a gypsy descended from the tribe the originally cursed him. His childe Drucilla killed Kendra, the new Slayer, and they attacked Willow, Xander and myself. Buffy found us all in the school library, but unfortunately, so did the police and the principal. She was accused of murder and assault and was expelled from school but ran away before she could be arrested. Her mother demanded that she stop being the Slayer or she was to leave and never return. She chose to leave, because she knew that Angelus would never stop. She fought Angelus, and defeated him. Willow managed to recurse him with his soul once more, but it was too late. He had opened a portal to a hell dimension and only his death would close it, so she killed him."

He paused and they remained quiet. They had seen his grief when he mentioned Jenny Calender. "She ran away, but returned three months later. She went on to stop several apocalypses, including the Mayor's attempt to Ascend to full demon and eat the Sunnydale High School graduating class. I have it on good authority that blowing up one's high school is every teenager's dream. She managed to defeat a hell god named Glorificus who tried to use a mystical energy called the key to return to her own dimension, but the ritual she was using which would have broken down the barriers between all dimension and destroyed everything, but not before the ritual was started, and she gave her life to close the portal. A few months later, Willow managed to bring Buffy back to life since she died a mystical death, pulling her from her peace in heaven even though we all thought she was in hell.

He paused again. "We lost Tara McClay when three humans decided they wanted to be Super Villians, their words, which caused Willow to slip into the dark side of magic and nearly brought about the end of the world. This final battle, which caused the collapse of Sunnydale was against the First Evil, which managed to gained a foothold during Willow's dark period. Willow cast a spell that turned all Potential Slayers into full Slayers, and we defeated her and destroyed the hellmouth, which is what collapsed the town. Any questions?"

"Who many times did you say she died?" Daniel asked. His face was pale.

"Four, including this last time. Tara died by a stray bullet in an attempt on Buffy's life. Buffy was also shot, and flat lined on the operating table before the doctors brought her back."

"And all of this was on top of nightly battles with demons and vampires?" Sam asked incredulously.

Giles nodded.

The Stargate crew sat back in shock and awe. No wonder the president called her a hero.


	5. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Later that morning, a package arrived with the clearance papers for the new Atlantis Expedition members and Giles. Jack called Mr. Giles using the phone number that was given to him, and Giles told him that they would arrive in Colorado Springs at the end of the week.

Jack arranged for quarters and set up offices for Giles and Willow, so that they could continue their Council duties until it was time for departure. Giles offered the use of Slayers to combat Anubis' new Super Soldiers. Xander went through Advanced Basic Training with startling ease, then he told them of the Halloween incident when he became Soldier Boy.

Willow and Sam became fast friends, and Daniel and Giles renewed their acquaintance from Daniel's life before the Stargate.

"So, Daniel, I assume that you have proven your theory regarding the pyramids, but can't publish it?"

Daniel smiled ruefully. "Yes, I have and no, I can't. I remember that you were one of the very that didn't trash my writings. Thank you for that, by the way."

"Well, while I did not believe exactly what you did, knowing what I know, I could not discount the possibility of something similar instead."

"Meaning, you didn't believe they were landing platforms for aliens, but they might have been built by demons or some such."

"Precisely."

"Well, that's better than nothing."

Willow showed Sam an example of her magic, and they somehow ended up theorizing the possible physics of her ability. Jack and Xander rolled their eyes and tuned them out and ended up in a discussion about the merits of practical jokes and the perks of Saturday Morning cartoons and video games.

Dawn had been provided tutors and concentrated on her studies, so when the time finally arrived, she had was taking with her a copy of her High School Diploma.

Occasionally, they had to leave the base to help Faith research a particularly vicious enemy and once to stop an apocalypse, but the Slayer always called them as a last resort. She seemed to be putting together her own version of the Scoobies, with Robin Wood watching her back and Andrew being the research guy. They were taken on small trips through the Stargate to get them accustomed to gate travel, and they visited the Antarctica site, where they discovered that Dawn had the Ancient gene when she sat down in the only chair available and everything lit up like a Christmas tree. After that, Daniel taught her to read the Ancient language and the scientists taught her how to use the Ancient's technology, except the weapons.

Finally, after all of their months of preparations. It was time to go.

"Everyone of you volunteered for this mission. You represent over a dozen countries. You are the worlds best and brightest, and in light of the adventure we are about to embark on, you're also the bravest. I hope we all return one day having discovered a whole new realm for humanity to explore, but as all of you know, we may never be able to return home. I'd like to offer you all one last chance to withdrawal your participation..."

Willow, Xander and Dawn stood with the others as they listened to the speech being given by Dr. Weir. She was reiterating the fact that this was most likely a one way trip, and giving everyone one last chance at backing out. Willow thought the speech was well thought out, but Xander and Dawn just wished she'd hurry up with it. They had said their goodbyes to Giles, Faith and the others, and they were ready to go. Finally, side by side, the three friends stepped into the shimmering pool of blue light and into their new lives.

- BtVS - SG-1 - SG:A -

"This is Dr. Rodney McKay! All teams, all personnel, report to the Gateroom immediately. I repeat, all personnel, return to the Gateroom now!"

"Wow." Dawn said softly, staring out at the clear water on the other side of what looked like a force field.

"I'll see your 'wow' and raise you a 'cool'." Xander responded just as softly. "Come on. Sounds like there's a problem."

Xander and Dawn sat on the steps and waited for Willow. Being one of the smartest people there, Dr. Weir had decided to add her to the senior staff, and they were all currently in the control room. It looked like Dr. McKay was on the verge of panicking.

"What do you think is going on?" Xander mused as he watched the military personnel mill around the gateroom.

"From the looks of that screen," Dawn squinted for a moment. "It looks like parts of the city are changing color."

- BtVS - SG-1 - SG:A -

"The city is waking up." Rodney McKay said once all of the senior staff was gathered together.

Dr. Weir raised an eyebrow and looked around the room. Dr. Beckett, Dr. Zelenka, Colonel Sumner and a hand full of other scientists were all looking at Dr. McKay with similar looks. "Isn't that a good thing, Dr. McKay?" she asked.

Dr. McKay shook his head. "We know from the initial exploration that the city has a central power station that is powered by three ZPM's. We also know that two of them are depleted with the third is well on it's way to maximum entropy." Looking around the room and seeing raised eyebrows from everyone but Willow and Dr. Zelenka, McKay rolled his eyes and continued. "They are running out of power. When we arrived, the city began using power to activate systems all over the city. This would be a good thing if we weren't under water and the shield holding the ocean back wasn't losing power due to said power being diverted to the awakening systems."

Dr. Weir nodded as she started to understand. "So, what you're saying is…"

"The shield holding the ocean back is failing. We have about twenty minutes before the ZPM is drained completely and it fails, letting the ocean in to kill us all in a massive rush of water." Dr. McKay said.

Major Sheppard frowned then sighed. "That can't be good."

- BtVS - SG-1 - SG:A -

As Dawn stared at the display in the control room, it seemed that anther section of the city changed color, and there was a faint tremor. She paled as she realized what was happening.

"Oh, god, Xander." She whispered frantically. "I think the city's flooding. I think whatever's holding the water back is coming down."

Xander turned to her with wide eyes, but before he could respond, alarms started going off. Only their training kept the people from panicking, and even that began to fail them as the ground suddenly shook, hard.

"It feels like we're moving." Xander said.

After what feels like an eternity, the movement stopped. The personnel cautiously climbed to their feet, looking around. Dawn tapped his shoulder and pointed behind him. "Xander, look."

Other heard her and they all looked in the direction she was pointing. A window, high above them, no longer showed rippling water, but a clear blue sky. It seemed like the city had surfaced.


	6. Chapter Five

A/N: Most of the next two chapters were taken from the transcripts of SG:A's Pilot Episode 'Rising Parts I & II' (from and altered to fit in Buffy's awakening after all the Wraith began to wake up.

Chapter Five

Everything was going smoothly. A team had gated out on their first offworld mission, the technicians were familiarizing themselves with the control room, several squads were exploring the city, Rodney McKay and Willow Rosenberg were beside themselves with the new technology, and Dawn Summers was attending her first class with Dr. Carson Beckett in the medical bay. Elizabeth Weir sat back in her chair in the room off the control room that she had taken for her office. "So far, so good."

"Offworld Activation."

"Did I speak too soon?" She asked herself as the went to the control room.

"It's Major Sheppard's IDC ma'am." Dr. Grodin told her as she approached.

"Lower the shields." Weir ordered.

The shields were lowered and a moment later, Major Sheppard, Lieutenant Ford and several others came through, leading a crowd of people. Curious, Weir stepped down into the Gateroom.

"Major?

"Sorry, Ma'am. The village was attacked and people were taken, including some of ours. Lieutenant Ford got the gate address symbols so that we could go after them."

"And how do you plan to to accomplish this?"

"Simple. We keep dialing addresses until one locks, then we see if we can find them."

"Do we have any idea who they we? We don't want to get in the middle of something that isn't any of our business."

"With all due respect, ma'am, even if we wanted to stay out it, they took our people, including Colonel Sumner, and we have to get them back. Teyla, the leader of these people said that they're called the Wraith. They feed on humans, so I don't think they're friendly."

"I'd like to speak with this Teyla."

"She was taken as well." Sheppard told her. "Before the attack, she was starting to tell us about some myth called a Wraith Slayer. She said after the majority of the Wraith had been awakened, this being appeared and culled them as they culled the humans."

As they were talking, Lieutenant Ford had pointed out the symbols to Grodin, who had been trying different combinations until one connected.

"All right. Send a MALP." Weir finally said.

They watched the MALP enter the event horizon and waited for the video to come up.

"Are we receiving a signal?" Sheppard asked after a moment.

"Yes, sir." One of the technicians answered. "Both audio and video."

All they saw was a black screen. Suddenly, something caught Willow's attention. "Hey, can you make the camera turn?"

The technician nodded and rotated the camera, until they all saw what Willow had glimpsed. The Stargate.

Floating.

In space.

"Crap." Said Major Sheppard.

No one had noticed that Dawn and Xander had joined them in the back of the room. "Hey, Major, we found something earlier that might help."

Dawn and Xander led Weir, Sheppard, McKay and Willow to a bay that they had found during their earlier exploration. It was filled with ships.

"You weren't supposed to be exploring the city alone." Weir reprimanded them as Sheppard the McKay examined the ship. "We didn't know if it was safe."

"With all due respect, Ma'am, we lived on a hellmouth." Xander told her as they revealed the weapons hidden on their bodies. "We never go anywhere unarmed."

Weir glanced at Willow, who merely shrugged and conjured up a small fireball. Suddenly, the ship before them vanished. A moment later, they heard Sheppard on the comm. "Well, ma'am, you said you wanted a tactical advantage."

"Very well, Major. You have a go.

"Gateship One ready to go, sir." Lieutenant Ford said he joined Sheppard at the cockpit sometime later.

"Gateship?" Sheppard looked at him in disbelief. "I don't think so."

"It's a ship. It goes through the Gate." Ford explained. "Gateship One. McKay that it was cool."

"And that's why the two of you are no longer allowed to name anything else. We are not calling a little puddlejumper like this 'Gateship One'." Sheppard manipulated a few more controls and the craft lowered to hover in front. He glanced at Ford with a smirk. "Puddlejumper One ready for launch."

"Puddlejumper?" McKay said. "I thought we were naming it Gateship."

Weir interrupted him. "Puddlejumper One, you're clear for launch. Good luck."

- BtVS - SG-1 - SG:A -

Sumner looked up at him with aged eyes and nodded at Sheppard. Reluctantly, Sheppard shifted his aim from the Wraith's head to her hand and fired a single shot. The bullet goes through her hand and through Sumner's heart, killing him instantly. The Wraith looked up and snarled. Suddenly, Sheppard was shot from behind.

"Bring him." Said the female Wraith

A guard dragged Sheppard into the room and held him down on a table. The female Wraith walked over.

"How's the hand feeling?" Sheppard asked.

She held her hand up in front of him and he watched as the bullet hole healed. "Much better."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

The Wraith notices the scanner device in his pocket and grabbed it.. "How did this come to you?"

"I don't remember."

She snarled again. Suddenly the guard holding him down is shot in the head. Sheppard looked up behind him to see Lieutenant Ford as he emptied his clip into the guard before the guard finally dropped. Sheppard grabbed his radio. "Light it up."

All around the outside of the building, explosions go off. The Wraith screamed in fury. A male Wraith and a guard come running but more explosives blew up in their faces, killing them instantly.

Back at the cell, Bates yelled at everyone to take cover and they all ducked as the cell doors blew open. He quickly ushered them out.

Ford reloaded and shot at the female Wraith as she struggled to rise. Sheppard grabbed one of the fallen guard's stunner, a long staff-like weapon, and rammed it straight through her chest and out the other side. She gasped at the impact.

"That has to kill you." Sheppard said before turning to Ford. "How'd you find me?"

"Tread marks." Ford answered. "Standard issue. Sir, we'd better get out of here."

"You don't know what you have done." The female gasped. "We are merely the caretakers for those that sleep. When I die, the others will awake." She smiled painfully as she died. "All of them."

"What's she talking about? How many are left?"

Sheppard grabbed the scanner from where she had dropped it. A whole lot of dots start to appear on the screen. Sheppard and Ford look up into the high ceiling. The view is now clear. The ceiling was honeycombed with hundreds of cells, presumably sleeper cells for the Wraith. In each of the cells, a figure was stirring.

Ford handed Sheppard a handgun. "Sir, we need to leave."

"Bates, We're moving." Sheppard notified his other teammember.

"So are we." Bates replied. "Colonel Sumner?"

Sheppard paused. "Negative."


	7. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Weir was standing near the Stargate, gazing at it. McKay came down the steps to join her.

"Dr. Weir, we're getting reports in from all over the city. Some pretty interesting stuff. We've only been able to provide power to certain sections but even then the things that are coming up are just ..." He trailed off as one of the technicians waved for his attention.

"Dr. McKay, a chamber in the city just activated itself." The technician told him.

McKay rolled his eyes. "Of course it did. The city waking up as we explore it."

"No, sir. No one has been to that section yet. There is one energy signature coming from _inside_ the chamber."

Weir and McKay quickly moved over to join him. Weir activated her comm. "Major Lorne, there is something moving in one of the chambers at the far end of the corridor to your left."

"We're on it." Major Lorne responded.

They watched as a group of lifesigns headed in that direction. The energy signature had exited it's chamber and began to move down the hall. It stopped after a moment, then began backing away. Suddenly, the signature was gone. The technician began tapping on keys, but there was nothing.

"Major, the reading we were tracking has vanished." Weir reported. "Be careful."

Major Lorne acknowledged the warning. A moment later, his group stopped moving. After a minute, Weir tried to contact the Major. Nothing. Weir tried again. Still nothing. Glancing worriedly at McKay, she hit the alarm and directed several units to Lorne's location. Suddenly, there was a bright flash and a young woman with blond hair was standing in the middle of the control room.

"You must call off your men." The young woman said.

"Tara." Willow, Dawn and Xander had been heading for the control room when they the alarms went off and had hurried along.

Weir could see tears in their eyes as they engulfed the blonde in a group hug. Tara pulled away after a moment. "Willow, the Slayer has awakened."

"Buffy?" Dawn's head jerked up.

Tara touched her cheek gently. "Not yet, honey. She's been alone for a long time, and has allowed her consciousness to become suppressed by the Slayer essence inside her. She is aware enough to recognize that the intruders are human, but she will become more aggressive as they continue to attack her."

"All units fall back." Weir immediately ordered. "I repeat, fall back." She looked to Willow and the others. "Go."

They ran.

- BtVS - SG-1 - SG:A -

The people in the cloaked ship stared at the Wraith vessels stationed around the Stargate.

"What can we do?" Teyla asked.

"We're safe as long as they can't see us." Ford commented.

"They don't have to." Sheppard told him. "That's the only way out of here. The minute we activate the Stargate, they can start shooting blind and blow us away on our approach."

"Then how can we get through?"

"We should draw them away from the Gate, double back."

Sheppard decloaked the 'Jumper and waited for the Wraith fighters to notice before he turned and headed away from the gate. Most of the fighters follow, but a few remain in place.

"Dial the Gate on my mark." Sheppard ordered as he swerved to avoid energy blasts from their followers. "See anything like a weapons console over there?"

The Puddlejumper once again responded to Sheppard's thoughts. A weapon deployed from the side of the ship and fired an energy drone, the same kind that Sheppard had barely managed to avoid back on Earth. The drone surged unerringly towards one of the fighters and destroyed it.

"Can we cloak again?" Ford asked.

"I tried, but it must be damaged. Dial the Gate."

Ford starts punching the symbols.

- BtVS - SG-1 - SG:A -

Weir and McKay watched as more and more groups when motionless. It seemed that the Slayer was intent on neutralizing the invaders, and was moving quickly towards the control room. It was attacking sections so fast that Willow and the others were having trouble catching up. Suddenly, Dr. Grodin noticed the gate as it started to dial in.

"Offworld activation." He announced.

"Raise the shield." Weir instructed, turning to him.

- BtVS - SG-1 - SG:A -

Sheppard fired a salvo of drones at one of the Wraith fighters still guarding the Stargate as it activated.

"Get ready to punch in your code on the next pass." Sheppard told Ford as he swung away again.

Ford took out his GDO. "What's the range on these things?"

- BtVS - SG-1 - SG:A -

"Do we have an identification code?" Weir asked.

"Nothing yet."

"Elizabeth, what's going on?" McKay asked.

"Not now, Rodney." Weir answered. "I'll explain later."

- BtVS - SG-1 - SG:A -

The Puddlejumper shoots down the second fighter guarding the Gate as Ford entered his code. "Hang on!"

- BtVS - SG-1 - SG:A -

"I've got Lieutenant Ford's IDC." McKay announced as his laptop chimes. He had been dividing his attention between the computer screen and the lifesign detector display.

"Let 'em in."

Grodin hit the controls to lower the shield.

- BtVS - SG-1 - SG:A -

Sheppard manuveured the Puddlejumper to avoid the Wraith fighters and weapons fire. He noticed some of the blasts enter the Stargate and hoped that the people on the other side got the hell out of the way. Finally, he got the Puddlejumper lined up with the Gate.

"We're going too fast." Ford remarked.

"I know."

As the Puddlejumper approached the Gate, its engine pods retracted into the sides of the ship to make it more streamlined. It plunged into the Gate at a fantastic speed, followed by two of the Wraith fighters.

- BtVS - SG-1 - SG:A -

The Puddlejumper came racing through the Gate but immediately stopped just yards into the Gateroom. The people inside drew back in shock as a small blonde woman suddenly jumped onto their front windshield and the Gateroom was filled with armed soldiers.

"Reactivate the shield!" Weir shouted. "Nobody move!"

Grodin hit a button and the shield reactivated. They heard two thuds on the shield before the Gate shut down.

Inside the ship, Sheppard, Ford and Bates raised their weapons as the woman on the front of the ship suddenly punched the glass, leaving an impression and spider webbing cracks. Her feral, predatory eyes were focused on Teyla, who was pressed again the back of the ship with the rest of her people. She was about to hit it again when Dawn ran into the Gateroom, followed by Willow and Xander. "_Buffy!_"

The woman paused and looked down at her, recognizing the voice. Her head cocked to the side and she blinked and the feral look faded slightly as she saw her sister and her best friends. She shook her head slightly. "D-Dawn?"


	8. Chapter Seven

A/N: The Slayer was going after Teyla because she has Wraith genes like they have the Ancient gene. It says so in the show.

Chapter Seven

Buffy glanced back at the woman in the ship, confused for a moment. She sensed Wraith, and her Slayer instincts demanded that she destroy it, but the woman she was focused on was not a Wraith. She shook her head to clear it, as more of her human consciousness awakened. The woman was Wraith, but not Wraith, kind of like how some of the people, even she herself, was Ancient, but not Ancient, and she realized that the woman must somehow have Wraith genes.

As she worked all this out in her head, she remained steadily balanced on the angled hull of the ship, crouched and ready to strike.

"How d-did you get here, Dawn?" Buffy managed, focusing on what was important. "Who are these people?"

"Come down, Buffy." Willow coaxed. "These are our friends."

It took them a few minutes, but Willow and Dawn were able to talk her down. As she landed silently on the floor, Weir motioned for Sheppard to take the Puddlejumper up and dock it. When he joined her in the control, he told her what had happened to Colonel Sumner. She caught her breath at the loss, but nodded and motioned for him to follow, then she made her way down to the Gateroom floor. As the soldiers shifted to make way, Buffy immediately tensed, and without thinking, Dawn, Willow and Xander were at her side, instinctively providing support as they had always done. Weir smiled.

"Ms. Summers, my name is Elizabeth Weir." She introduced herself. "On the behalf of the President of the United States, it is my honor and privilege to present you with this."

Weir pulled a slim box out of her jacket and opened it. Inside was a platinum medal, crafted in the shaped of a stake and a sword crossed in an X. "President Hayes knew that he could not publicly acknowledge what you do, but he felt that he could no longer let your sacrifices go unrecognized."

The Scoobies gasped in surprise. No one had told them.

"He also wanted you to know that, with the help of Mr. Giles and what was left of the Watchers' records, a memorial to the past Slayers has been erected at Arlington Cemetery, and the land where the Watchers Council once stood is being remade into a cemetery for Slayers and Watchers, starting with the posthumous graves of the Potentials and the Watchers that were killed in the last battle."

With shaking hands, Buffy reached out and took the medal being offered. Her eyes filled with tears as she took in what the President had done. While she had never sought recognition for fulfilling the duties of her calling, it made her heart feel a little lighter to know that the names of those who had given their lives before her, and those who were risking their lives now, would not be forgotten, even if the reasons behind their recognitions were.

"Thank you." Buffy said simply, before quietly walking off, her friends following in silent support.

"Dr. Weir, what's going on?" Sheppard asked. "Who was that?"

"That's what I want to know." McKay threw in.

"Come with me, gentlemen." Weir said. "I'll tell you what little I am authorized to tell of Buffy Anne Summers from Sunnydale, California."

- BtVS - SG-1 - SG:A -

Dawn, Willow and Xander followed silently as Buffy made her way back to her chambers, only vaguely noticing the P90's cut in half that littered the halls. They entered a chamber that looked nothing like the rest of the city. The room was filled with wall hangings and rugs. There was artwork and sculptures and pottery. On one table were what looked like photos, though they couldn't imagine where she'd gotten them. There was one of Buffy, Dawn and their mother. One of Buffy, Willow and Xander. One of Giles in an embrace with Jenny Calender. There was one of Willow and Tara where Willow was looking at her girlfriend with a look of adoration as she smiled at something. One of Xander as he was watching Anya with that same look. There was a picture of Angel standing in the snow and a picture of Spike leaning against a headstone with that cocky smirk. There was even a picture of Faith, sitting between Cordelia and Oz in what looked one of their happier nights at the Bronze before she turned into Psycho-let me go work for the mayor who wants to be a fifty foot demon snake-Slayer Faith.

All the pictures showed their subjects at their best. When their smiles were the biggest and most genuine. When their love was most obvious. Moments of happiness stolen from their hard lives of constant fighting.

"Wow, Buffy." Willow was amazed. "Where did you get these?"

Buffy smiled softly. "There was a civilization about sixty years ago what could pull images from memory and capture them like a photograph. I discovered them on one of my trips and had them made."

"Do you remember the address?" Dawn asked. "I bet a lot of those people out there would like some memory photos of their loved ones."

Buffy's smile faded. "They were wiped out during the last culling before I awoke. The Wraith don't like their food to get too advanced in technology or science."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Buffy."

"It's okay, Dawnie." Buffy hugged at each of them in turn. "How did you get here? And why are you with the military?"

Before anyone could answer, Tara appeared in a flash of light. "That would be my doing."

- BtVS - SG-1 - SG:A -

"So, you're telling me that girl saved the world from destruction and everyone thought she died in the collapse of Sunnydale that just happened a couple of years ago." McKay said. "But somehow she ended up way out here, light years from Earth."

"That's right." Weir answered.

"And you can't tell us what she saved the world from?" Sheppard questioned.

"That's right." Weir said again. "I'm not authorized to tell you that. If you want to know, you'll have to ask her yourself."

"Elizabeth, that girl can't be more that five foot two." Sheppard dropped the formality in his astonishment. "She looks like a strong sneeze could blow her across the room, yet apparently she managed to disable fifteen military trained men and women and put them in the infirmary and nearly punched through the Puddlejumper's front windshield, which is bulletproof I might add. Damn it, there are P90s cut clean in half all over the place. This girl is clearly a threat."

"Buffy Summers is not a threat to us as long as we're not a threat to her." Weir assured them. "You have to remember, she was here before we were. She probably saw us as intruders, armed intruders no less, and yet she has killed no one. Not to mention that she has already had bad experiences with the US Military. I was told that she would probably be here. Colonel Sumner was informed as well. She is the reason that Ms. Summers, Ms. Rosenberg and Mr. Harris are here. They are the last of her family, and were given special permission, by the President himself, when they were told she was here."

"Told by who?" McKay asked.

"The young lady that appeared in the control room, Tara McClay. She was Willow's girlfriend before she was accidentally killed in an attempt on Buffy's life. She is now an Ascended Being."

"Aren't they supposed to be all non-interfering or some crap like that?" Sheppard asked.

"Yes, but apparently these kids have a problem with rules that could get people needlessly killed."

"Well, that gets all sorts of automatic points in my book." Sheppard acknowledged.

- BtVS - SG-1 - SG:A -

"When you agreed to continued to fight, you asked that they be given the chance to join you if they wished." Tara explained. "I told you that I had already put plans in place that would give them that opportunity if you agreed. With Oma's help, I arranged for them to speak with the President and the people responsible for getting this team out here. Faith is doing a great job on the hellmouth and they've even gotten several Slayers into the Stargate program on Earth. They thought this out very carefully before decided to come here."

"But Tara, it's dangerous here." Buffy protested.

"It's dangerous there too." Dawn cut in. "At least here, we're with you."

"Yeah," added Willow. "Even though agreeing with Faith in not a favorite, she was right when she said that you need your family. You tell everybody all the time. The Watchers Council, Giles, even your enemies. Your family is the reason why you fight. Your family is the reason why you stay alive. You needed us, and we came."

"Besides, we couldn't let you have all the fun." Xander grinned.

Everybody laughed. Then Tara continued. "There are other reasons why it is better that they are here, and before you ask, no they were not 'encouraged' to come in any way. The Goa'uld Anubis is half Ascended, and the Ascended can sense the Key."

Dawn's whole body jerked.

"Don't worry, honey. We can only sense it's presence, not anything specific. Even standing right next to you, I only have the sense that it's on this planet. If I didn't already know the truth, it could be on the ocean floor and I'd never know the difference. If Anubis had reached Earth, however, he would have sensed the power, and he would have stopped at nothing to get his hands on it. And Willow, you'll be able to better control your power here. There are no hellmouth to draw the dark magick."

"Is that why I've been feeling more stable?" Willow marveled. "I noticed that I can wield the magick without the constant temptation to continue. I created my fireball and put it out, and I didn't feel like I _had_ to do more."

Tara nodded. "One of the reasons dark magick is so addictive on Earth is because the dark energy from the hellmouths and hell dimension hotspots are constantly feeding it. Its always there and has always been there, so no one has ever been able to tell. If you were to return to Earth right now, you would immediately feel the difference."

Buffy sat back and listened. This felt good. It felt like it did back in high school before everything else got in the way. This was the closeness that she had been missing for a very long time and she hadn't realized how much she missed it until now.

"One more thing before I go, Will. When Dr. Beckett creates the Gene Therapy to give everyone the Ancient Gene, you need to really think about it before accepting. There's no telling how it will affect your powers. I won't be able to visit you very often, so please, be happy, you guys and take care of each other."


	9. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

"So tell me what's been happening back home." Buffy said.

"Well, Sunnydale collapsed into a crater after we defeated the First. It's filled with water now." Dawn told her.

Buffy's eyes went wide and her mouth fell open in shock. "Wow, really?"

"Yeah." Willow grinned. "The hellmouth was destroyed completely."

"What about the scythe?" Buffy suddenly remembered. "I dropped it when the boulder hit me, and I know that Faith didn't have it when I pushed her out of the cavern."

"Now that was weird." Xander answered. "It kind of just appeared one day. It showed up in Faith's room after we bought the estate in Cleveland for the new Watcher's Council. Faith has been doing really good. I think the spotlight has really done her good. She told us what you said that day. You would be proud of her."

Buffy smiled in satisfaction. She knew Faith could do it. "Wait, you bought an estate?"

"Yeah." Dawn grinned. "We managed to get our hands on the money from the old Watchers Council. We made a new one on the Cleveland hellmouth. Giles is in charge. Willow and Xander were also on the council until we decided to come here."

"What about Kennedy, Will?" Buffy asked, remembering her friends' obnoxious girlfriend. "What did she have to say about you moving across the galaxy to be with me?"

"We broke up a year ago." Willow told her. "She said some really mean things about you the day of your anniversary, and I'd finally had enough. Did you that know she was always jealous of you, even more than Tara?"

"Anyway, these people are a part of a government program called the Stargate Program." Willow directed the conversation away from her love life. "Several years ago, they uncovered an alien device that allowed them to travel to other planets in different galaxies. Unfortunately, they found a Big Bad out there. They're called the Goa'uld. They're these snake-like parasites that burrow into the body, wraps around the spinal cord and attaches itself to the brain. It suppresses the host and completely takes over the body."

"Kind of like a vampire, huh?" Buffy reasoned.

"Pretty much, but the host isn't killed. They have several reports of people who have had the symbiotes successfully removed, but if it is killed in the body, it decomposes into the bloodstream as a poison. The host knows everything that's happened, but can't do anything about it."

Buffy shuddered. "Creepy."

"So this is your room?" Xander looked around.

"Yeah, this is my place. The whole room is kind of a stasis chamber. I don't understand how it works, much less how they made a whole room. I remember those space shows. Aren't people in stasis supposed to be in pods or something?" Buffy asked curiously, then shrugged and pointed behind her. "Anything, the place came complete with a weapons locker and training room through there."

Buffy watched silently as the others explored her chambers, content for the moment to simply bask in their presence. It had been so long since she'd had anything but her memories, then her photos. She visited the different colony she found through the Stargate between her battles with the Wraith and her time in stasis, but it wasn't the same.

"Hey, Buffy, what is this?" Willow asked, staring as a screen with scrolling information.

"I think they're my medical records, or something, from when I'm in stasis." Buffy answered. "I recognize some of it, but not this part or this part." Buffy pointed to one section of the screen and tapped on another. "But I think this part is something about my evolution."

Willow looked intrigued. She entered a command to take her back to the top. She read the first date, and her eyes nearly bugged out of her head. "Buh… Wha… Hey, Dawn, come here."

"Yeah?" Dawn came over from where she was studying the artwork.

"Your Ancient is better than mine." Willow was still goggling at the screen. "Tell me that I'm reading this wrong."

Dawn read the screen and her jaw dropped. Seeing the absolute shock on her face, Xander set down the picture of him and Anya and came over to join them. "Buffy, this says you've been here for a hundred years." Dawn's voice rose to near hysteria. "That's impossible. You've only been gone for three years. How could you have been here for _a hundred years_?"

Buffy grabbed her sister by the shoulders and turned her so that she could look Dawn in the eye. "Calm down, Dawnie, and take a breath." She looked at the others. "Come on, guys, and I'll explain."

They all moved over to the bed and got comfortable, except for Xander who pulled over a chair. 'Just like old times.' Buffy thought. "The first time I woke up, I found a letter from Tara, written in Anqueeta."

"Jeez, that girl did a lot." Xander interrupted. "What's Anqueeta?"

"Ancient." Dawn answered. "That was another name that they were called."

"Imagine my surprise when I could read, write and speak this strange language. Apparently, if they had left me in the present time, it would have drawn too much attention to what they had done. It also gave my abilities time to evolve to fight the Wraith. The Slayer was not created to battle something like this, so some genetic altering was required. The Wraith are naturally evolved, not demons, and despite the fact that they killed millions of humans, they are a part of the natural food chain. The caretakers forage, taking humans and storing them, all the time, but every ten to fifteen years, the rest of the Wraith awaken in increasing increments to go from world to world kidnapping almost whole populations in what they call cullings."

"What does that have to do with us?" Xander asked.

"Well, the Powers That Be would never have done anything about the Wraith because like I said, they are a natural part of the food chain in this part of the universe. By the time the Wraith would have drawn their attention, they would have already discovered the location of Earth, and then only because they never should have found out that Earth existed. A single world of billions and billions of people, who reproduce daily. Anybody seeing the problem here?"

Xander's eyes got really wide as he realized what that meant. "A one-stop all-you-can-eat buffet."

"Exactly." Buffy nodded. "So one of those Ascended Being called Oma Desala went to Tara when she died and asked for help and Tara agreed. When I was dying, Tara came to me and asked me if I wanted to remain dead or if I would travel to this place to fight the Wraith. I usually awaken when majority of the Wraith have already awakened, but something's happened. There is something really wrong, because my spidey-sense is going nuts. I need to talk to whoever's in charge."

"Buffy, can I transfer your records to my laptop to look over?" Willow asked.

"Go ahead." Buffy shrugged.

Willow transferred the records and remotely started a translation program that she and Dawn had been working on, then they all decided to save the catching up for later and went to find the others.

- BtVS - SG-1 - SG:A -

"So I guess this is home now." Lt. Ford said to Sheppard.

"I guess so." Sheppard answered.

"I'm thinking of a little place with an ocean view." Ford joked. "A little ways off the beaten path, you know."

They were standing on a balcony, watching the people introduce themselves to one another in the gateroom. Night had fallen and they here holding a "getting to know you" party of sorts, mixing the Stargate crew with the Athosians. As they people watch, Weir stepped out to join them.

"Major, Lieutenant." Weir greeted them and handed them each a mug. "I thought the occasion merited champagne. Compliments of General O'Neill."

"Cheers." Sheppard toasted and they all drank.

"You did good, John." Weir told him when she noticed is less then happy expression.

"I don't know about that."

"There was no way you could have saved Colonel Sumner, was there?" She asked.

"No, but I have to live with it." Sheppard answered after a moment. "I'm beginning to think you were right. I _have_ made things much worse. I haven't made us many more friends out there."

"No?" Weir's brow rose as she turned back to look over the party. "Look around you."

Sheppard looked at the Athosians milling around happily. Nearby, Halling was having an affectionate moment with Jinto, the two of them have their foreheads touching. Teyla was standing next to Halling.

"I agree, Major Sheppard." Teyla said. She walked over to him, put her hands on his shoulders and bowed her head. Sheppard glanced at Ford, who grinned at him. Sheppard rolled his eyes a little and lowered his own head so that his forehead touched Teyla's. They stood like that for a moment, then Teyla straightened. "You have earned both _my_ friendship and that of my people. With our help you will make many more friends."


	10. Chapter Nine

A/N: We're veering off from the show about here, so be warned.

A/N 2: My responses to reviews are in the reviews sections. I don't put them in the story because I think it takes up unnecessary space.

Chapter Nine

"I hate to burst the happy bubble." Buffy said as she joined them outside, the other Scoobies at her back. "But can someone explain to me what is going on."

"I would have thought your friends told you who we were and why we're here, Ms. Summers." Weir said.

"It's Buffy, and they did." Buffy told her. "That's not what I'm talking about. There's no way I should be awake yet. It's too soon after the last culling for the majority of the Wraith to even start stirring in their knapsacks."

"Knapsacks?" Teyla asked, confused by the unusual word.

Buffy turned to study her. She could tell now that the woman had very little of the Wraith in her. She could probably sense them, maybe even sense the hive mind if she concentrated, but that would most likely be the extent of it. She looked familiar, though.

"I know you." Buffy suddenly remembered. "You're Tughan's kid. The last time I saw you, you were a baby."

Teyla was startled. "You knew my father?"

"And your mother. I gave her that." Buffy nodded, pointing to the woven friendship bracelet she always wore. "Your people made some of my clothes, but your parents were my first real friends in this galaxy."

"You are the Traveler who saved them during the Culling." Teyla realized. "My father spoke of you often, but he would never describe you to anyone. He said that you helped with my birth."

"Yeah and believe me, a fun time, that was not." Buffy chuckled wryly. "A hive ship full of hungry, I-just-woke-up-and-I-haven't-had-my-caffeine-fix, bug people was not exactly the best place to decide that you wanted to experience the real world."

Although she didn't exactly understand the words, Teyla seemed to understand what Buffy was saying, and smiled apologetically. Buffy frowned. "I'm sorry that I couldn't save them. I found them on one of the hive ships, but the Wraith had already killed your mom, and taken so much from your father. He was so old. He refused to let me take him home. I buried them together in the valley that overlooked the village. He said that it was their favorite spot. I could never bring myself to go back."

"You cannot save everyone." Teyla said, placing a hand of Buffy's shoulder in comfort. "I found their graves, and it made my heart glad to know that they were together."

A tear slid down Buffy's cheek. "I'm sorry I couldn't face you."

"And I am sorry that you grieved alone. No one should have to do that."

Buffy and Teyla took a moment to grieve together while the others just stood in silent support. After a moment, Buffy pulled herself together and turned to the men she had seen driving the ship. "So, you wanna tell me what happened?"

"Let's take this to the conference room, shall we?" Weir cut in before Sheppard could start. "There's no need to ruin the party."

After sending Dawn to get McKay and Dr. Beckett, they moved their impromptu meeting to the conference room.

"All right, people, first some introductions." Weir immediately took control. "Around the table we have Buffy Summers, Dawn Summers, Willow Rosenberg, Xander Harris, Dr. Carson Beckett, Teyla Emmagen, Major John Sheppard, Lieutenant Aiden Ford and Dr. Rodney McKay. Since we are the ones who will be essentially making the hard decisions, I suggest we dispense with the formalities since they tend to get in the way. All right, what have we got?"

"The cells in the arm they brought back have none of the normal human-inhibiting proteins whatsoever." Carson started off. "That gives them an incredible ability to regenerate."

John nodded. "I've seen that. Shot one in the chest and in the hand. The holes healed up right before my eyes."

"The being the arm belonged to, if I was a betting man, I'd say it was old. Very, very old." Carson continued.

"It was." Buffy answered. "The Wraith can live for thousands of years if kept adequately fed. It's one of the reasons why the caretakers steal people and put them in storage. The Wraith begin feeding immediately after waking up."

"What do you know about them?" Elizabeth asked.

"I know that they evolved from this huge-ass, blood-sucking, cockroach-looking bug. It went from sucking out your blood like a mosquito to sucking out your cells to feed and regenerate and they have a hive mind. Every hive ship has several thousand Wraith, so I honestly don't know how many there are. They've also got this mind mojo going on to make you walk, talk and quack like a duck."

"Excuse me." Teyla asked, extremely confused.

"They can make someone talk or do something using mind control." Dawn translated.

"Well, on our last mission, their caretaker was feeding on our Colonel, trying to force him to give up the location of Earth." John told the group. "I had to kill him. I looked about eighty and from the look in his eyes, he wasn't going to be able to hold out much longer. I stuck her in the chest with one of those guard staff things, but before she died, she said that the Wraith were waking up."

"The ones on that ship?" Buffy asked.

John shook his head and looked at her in remorse. "All of them."

'Oh, God, no wonder the Slayer went postal.' Buffy thought, then she realized her senses were picking up something odd. Standing, she tracked the feeling until she was standing next to Teyla.

"What's that?" Buffy asked, pointing to the Athosian's throat.

"It is a necklace that I found and then lost when I was younger. Major Sheppard found it in one of our caves before the Wraith attacked." Teyla reached up to touch the object in question.

"There's something wrong with it." Buffy said bluntly. "It feels like Wraith."

Teyla believed her without question and removed the necklace. Buffy took the necklace, dropped it on the floor and stomped on it until they could see little wires and small light fading out. Willow and McKay came over for a closer look.

"It looks like a homing device of some kind." Rodney told them. He looked up at Buffy. "How did you know about this? How do you know _any_ of this? Who _are_ you?"

Buffy's brow rose at the sudden, aggressive questioning. "My name is Buffy, I'm a Slayer, and I know this because stuff because I've been here alone for a hundred years and I got bored, so I looked it up."

Then she walked away and returned to her seat while McKay's mouth was hanging open in astonishment.

"Thank you, Buffy." Elizabeth stepped in before Rodney could recover. "You may have saved us a lot of future trouble. I want to put together a team to look for allies against the Wraith, as well as more ZPMs. John, you will be with the first team. Your teammates will be Lieutenant Ford, Dr. McKay and Teyla if she wishes."

"I would be honored." Teyla inclined her head.

"Great." Buffy cut in, rising to her feet. "While you're doing that. Willow, Xander and I will go out and kill the Wraith."

"Wait a minute." Rodney started. "You don't make those decisions. Elizabeth is in charge her, little girl, not you."

Buffy froze.

"Hey, Will, did he just call her 'little'?" Xander asked.

"Yep." Willow answered.

"Everybody duck and cover." Dawn quipped.

"I don't take orders from anyone. Period." Buffy snarled, holding his gaze until his began to fidget. Then she channeled her inner Social Queen and proceeded to flay him alive with sharp barbed insults, most of them learned from Cordelia, before she stalked out.

"Well, he got off light." Xander mused.

"First time offender." Dawn reasoned.

"We'd better go find her before she breaks something." Willow told them. "Or someone."

While everyone else's eyes followed the Scoobies out of the room, Elizabeth focused her attention on Rodney, carefully keeping her amusement buried. He was pale and wide eyed and she was sure that no one had ever spoken to him like that in his entire life. All of Buffy's vicious comments had been aimed to tear at the superiority complex his high intellect had given him, even going so far as to point out that Willow was half his age, twice as smart, way more better looking and easily managed not to be an ass. She was sure that his ego would recover, probably very quickly, but he would watch his mouth around Buffy Summers from now on.


	11. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Elizabeth took a deep breath and waved her hand over the sensor. After a moment, the door slid open to reveal Dawn. "I'd like to speak with Buffy please."

"Sure." Dawn smiled and stepped aside. Old habits were hard to break. "They're in the training room."

Dawn pointed and Elizabeth went to watch the training while Dawn went back to her schoolbooks. Standing in the doorway, Elizabeth was in amazement as Buffy defended herself against Xander's attacks while simultaneously dodging fireballs being thrown by Willow. Buffy ended the exercise when she sensed Elizabeth's presence. Xander's hair was plastered to his forehead and was dripping sweat, but Buffy barely looked like she was breathing hard.

"Is it just me," He panted at his friend. "or have you gotten faster?"

"I've gotten faster." Buffy answered. "How are you doing, Will? Any drainage at all?"

"I feel great!" Willow chirped. "The energy here is so clean, and untapped. Drawing on it so easy."

"How's your control and your focus?" The Slayer asked.

"My control is getting much better. It's also easier to focus without the overwhelming temptation."

Elizabeth couldn't take her eyes off the blonde. Buffy was wearing a black sports bra and tight black leggings that emphasized flexing muscles as the Slayer moved. The light sheen of sweat at Buffy's throat made her skin shine, and suddenly Elizabeth wanted nothing more than to lick that glistening flesh. Elizabeth was shocked. She hadn't been this attracted to another woman since college, and it unnerved her.

"Dr. Weir?" Vaguely, Elizabeth realized that someone was calling her name. "Elizabeth? Are you all right?"

"I'm sorry. I was just thinking." Elizabeth forced herself to pay attention. "Buffy, may I speak with you for a moment?"

"Sure." Grabbing a towel, Buffy wiped off the sweat and draped it over her shoulders before following Elizabeth out into the hall.

"I wanted to apologize for Rodney." Elizabeth started off. "I know that he can be a little…"

"Obnoxious? Arrogant? Condescending?"

Elizabeth chuckled. "I was going to say tactless, but those work too."

Buffy grinned back. "Don't worry about it. We've got someone just like him. His intelligence makes him think he's better than everyone else. With Cordy, it was her money and popularity. We put up with her, so I think we can manage him too."

"He did bring something to mind, however." Buffy's grin faded and Elizabeth hurried on. "Not about taking orders. The President and Mr. Giles warned me about that. I was referring to your decision to simply travel to kill Wraith. You are not bound by the same constraints as you were back home. The people here don't deny the existence of the monsters that we are fighting, so you and you're friends don't have to simply destroy and go."

Elizabeth paused, but Buffy said nothing.

"You interacted with people on other worlds, didn't you?" Buffy nodded. "Show them to your friends, and to us. Help us make contact. You don't have to go through the gate just to slay."

Elizabeth began to walk away, leaving Buffy with a thoughtful look on her face. "One more thing, Buffy." The Slayer looked up. "You are surrounded by men and women trained to combat enemies that are 'more than human'. You guys don't have to do this alone anymore. Since we are most likely going to come up against the Wraith anyway, let us help you."

Buffy leaned against the corridor wall as she thought about what Elizabeth had said. She had been fighting in the shadows for so long, that it hadn't occurred to that she no longer had to. The people in this universe did not adhere to the belief that ignorance is bliss like humans did regarding the demons that went bump in the night. Maybe she needed to find out more about these people, instead of automatically dumping them into the same category as the Initiative, especially since they had done nothing to deserve it. Coming to a decision, she went back into her chambers.

"Hey, guys." She said, getting their attention. "Tell me more about these Stargate people."

- BtVS - SG-1 - SG:A -

Later that night, Buffy sat in her windowsill looking up at the night sky. She didn't sleep much for the first few weeks of her awakening, usually preferring to take one of the ships to the surface to gaze at the stars and think about the family that she had left behind even though she knew that they hadn't even been born yet. Now they were together again, just a few feet away, sound asleep on her bed. Now, she was thinking about what they had told her of the people they were working with.

Willow, Xander and Dawn all agreed that they were a good group. They were nothing like the Initiative. They weren't trying to use the aliens to create super soldiers or anything like that. Although they were told that there was a faction, one that Willow had discovered had close ties to the Initiative, that were not above using the aliens to get what they wanted. While the Scoobies were fighting a war under the cover of the night, the Stargate people were fighting another war in space. While they were all that stood between the world ending or being overrun by demons, the SG teams were standing between humanity and enslavement. All this time, they had been fighting similar wars that neither had known about.

She was also thinking about the things Elizabeth Weir had said earlier. Buffy realized that although they had lived in Sunnydale, shopped and partied and went to school, the Scooby gang, from herself and Giles all the way down to Dawn and Tara, had held themselves apart from the people in their hometown. Those people ignored what happened after the sun set, and barely acknowledged, unless they had no choice, the people that sacrificed to keep them safe. Buffy strongly suspected that people here wouldn't do that. They didn't ignore the problem, although they had learned to live with it, and they would probably fight back if someone would only show them how.

Finally, she found herself thinking about Elizabeth Weir.

There was something about that woman that was making all of her instincts stand up and take notice. As they had walked together out into the corridor, she had caught the faint scent of something that had made her mouth water, but she had been distracted by what Elizabeth was saying. Thinking about Elizabeth brought her face to mind, then her body. Then images of what that body might look like without clothes, and Buffy realized something that shocked her. She was attracted to Elizabeth Weir. In a seriously, BIG way. She hadn't felt like this since Angel, and never for a woman. She was going to have to talk to Willow about this.

Suddenly feeling restless, Buffy quietly left her chambers to wander the corridors. She took her time, allowing her senses to become accustomed to the scents and sounds of the city's new inhabitants. She knew that it would take some time to get used to so many people after she had been alone for so long, but she found herself looking forward to it. She ended up perched on the railing of the balcony outside the gateroom, looking out over the water.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" Buffy said to the figure moving up behind her.

Elizabeth paused for a moment, then moved to lean on the rail beside the Slayer. "Couldn't sleep. What about you?"

"Coming out of stasis leaves me with too much pent-up energy to sleep more than a couple of hours for weeks." Buffy shrugged.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"I have heard the President, Mr. Giles and now you speaking to Willow about controlling her magic. Is this something that I should be concerned about?"

Buffy looked at her for a moment, studying her as a potential threat. "Yes and no. When Willow first began using magic, Giles wouldn't help her. He'd had his own problems and tried to steer her away from it. Unfortunately, the one thing Willow can't resist, is something to learn. So she figured it out on her own, unfortunately with no one to guide her, she studied it all, including Dark Magic. Dark Magic is like a drug. The more you use, the more you have to use it, and like a drug, it's habit-forming."

"So you're saying that Willow is addicted to her magic?" Elizabeth realized. "Then why does she still use it? Shouldn't you be discouraging her?"

"It doesn't work that way." Buffy told her. "Once the magic is a part of you, it stays a part of you. She has to use her magic, or the build-up will kill her. The only thing she can do is learn to control it, because if she doesn't control the power, then the power will control her. Anything else you want to know about it, you'll have to ask her."

"Okay, so that's the 'yes' part. Want to tell me the 'no' part now?"

The Slayer smiled. "If she looses control of the Dark Magic, we'll be the ones to deal with her. She'd kill you all before you got anywhere near her."

They were silent for a while, simply looking over the water. Finally, Buffy spoke again. "I thought about what you said."

"And what did you decide?"

Buffy was silent for so long that Elizabeth thought she wouldn't answer, then the Slayer sighed. "That you're right."


	12. Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

"Hey, Buffy, I finished translating your records." Willow said, walking into Buffy's chambers. "Did you know that your Slayer abilities were altered when you arrived."

Buffy was surprised. "How is that possible? The Slayer is mystical, not physical."

"I'm not sure, but all things considered, it's possible that Tara and Oma Desala had something to do with it. It makes sense, though. If the Wraith are naturally evolved, there's no way you should be able to sense them, so the alteration would be necessary."

"What do you mean?" Xander asked.

"Everything the Slayers fight are against nature. Demons, Vampires, even infected, or cursed, werewolves. The Slayers would most likely be able to sense the Goa'uld and Jaffa if they were in the same vicinity, simply because they do not belong in the human body." Willow explained. "But, if at some point in the future, natural wolves evolved to the point where one of them could naturally shift into a human, the Slayers would probably sense that the person wasn't completely human, but it wouldn't set off the Slayer's protective instincts simply because they are a part of natural evolution, which is what the Wraith are."

"Okay, I kinda understood that." Buffy said. "So, what did they do to me?"

"The Slayer is already hardwired to protect the human race, but everything that made you a natural enemy to vampires was shifted to focus on the Wraith. They made it so that you can sense anything that isn't completely human, naturally or otherwise. It's a good thing you don't have a 'kill first, ask questions later' policy. The side effect is that, because the demon that was used to create the Slayer was a predator and hunter, the alteration as brought that predator closer to the surface of your consciousness. Whatever they did also made you poisonous to the Wraith. They can't feed on you."

"That's a plus." Dawn commented.

"Dawnie, you've got Sociology and Economics with Dr. Weir in ten minutes, so I suggest you get going." Willow told her, looking at her watch.

"I want to hear the rest." Dawn complained.

"I'll explain it all to you later." Willow assured the younger girl. "Maybe we can get Dr. Beckett to consider it as extra credit."

Dawn rolled her eyes and went to her room to get her things. She, Willow and Xander and moved their quarters to the corridor where Buffy's chambers were. She ducked back in a moment later to let them know that she was off.

"All right, Will." Buffy sat down on the windowsill. "What didn't you want Dawn to know?"

"There's a section regarding your heightened primal instincts." Willow moved to the bed. "According to these analysis', you've evolved into a thinking predator. You'll protect you home and family at all costs. You will destroy anyone or anything that threatens that home and family and whomever else you've placed under your protection. In other words, if the situation is bad enough, you might find yourself capable of consciously killing humans."

Buffy went pale. One of the basic tenets of a Slayer was to not take a human life despite being more than able to do it and now, whatever's been done to her has not only made her more capable of doing it, but also capable of _choosing_ to do it. Willow and Xander were at her side in an instant.

"It'll be okay, Buff." Xander said quickly, grabbing her hand.

"Yeah, Buffy," Willow threw in. "I'm sure that it would have to be something really, really bad. Like somebody trying to kill us or blow us up or something. Kind of like when the vampires are trying to drain us or when demons are trying to eat us or…"

"Breathe, Will." Buffy whispered with a faint smile.

Willow's babble trailed off as she took a deep breath and smiled back in relief. "You ready to hear the rest of it?"

"No." Buffy shook her head. "But go ahead and tell me anyway."

"Okay, well, there's another primal instinct that will probably make itself known."

Buffy and Xander watched their friend curiously as she began to blush. "Will?"

"At some point, all of your instincts and your Slayer lust are going to focus on one person and… and…" Willow blushed harder and rushed through the rest of the sentence. "andyou'regonnawannamate."

Buffy blinked as she mentally slowed down the sentence, then her eyes nearly bugged out of her head. "Mate?! What do you mean, _mate_?"

- BtVS - SG-1 - SG:A -

Elizabeth watched Dawn as she worked on her Economics work. The girl was exceptionally bright. Even Rodney had been impressed with how quickly she seemed to pick up his concepts. Considering the lives these kids had lead, Elizabeth was surprised to find them so well adjusted.

"Dawn, can I ask you a question?" Elizabeth asked.

"Sure." Dawn replied without looking up.

"Why didn't your parents get you all out of Sunnydale if so much stuff was happening? If you were my kids, I would have packed you up and gotten as far away as I could."

Dawn froze, then finally looked up from her work. She was thinking of how to best answer the question. Willow had advised Buffy to trust the Stargate people, especially since they already knew most of it and they the fact that they were all stuck here together for the time being, and after a while, Buffy had agreed.

"Well, for one thing, the people of Sunnydale had self-denial down to a fine art. You wouldn't believe how many wild dog attacks, barbeque fork stabbing accidents, or gang on PCP attacks we've had. Sunnydale had over a dozen cemeteries, a church every couple of blocks, and no one walked the streets alone after sunset."

Dawn took a deep breath before continuing. "Parents didn't pay much attention to their kids in Sunnydale. Xander's parents were drunks and I don't thinks they really noticed anything that wasn't in a bottle. Willow's parents were never home. They're some really important psychologists and are always touring. We've known Willow for almost ten years and I can count the times we've seen her parents on one hand. The last time was when Hansel and Gretel came to town and nearly made all the parents burn her, Buffy and another girl named Amy as witches."

"Hansel and Gretel?" Elizabeth was shocked.

"Yeah, they were demons." Dawn sighed. "So are a couple of other fairy tale characters. I'm not sure if the fairy tales are based on the demons, or if the demons decided to emulate the fairy tales. Willow probably knows. The real disappointment, though, was finding out about Santa Claus."

'God. These kids were all alone.' Elizabeth thought. "What about your parents. I know that Buffy had been institutionalized the first time she tried to tell, but with all the evidence, your parents had to believe her this time."

Dawn's eyes filled with tears. "She didn't tell us. We had been living in Sunnydale for almost two years before my mom found out that all the fights and missing school and sneaking out all night was because she was fighting monsters again. We wouldn't have found out then if Buffy's boyfriend hadn't lost his soul and turned evil. He told Mom that they'd had sex on Buffy's birthday, then vamped out when he couldn't get into the house anymore. Mom and Buffy had this huge fight and Mom kicked her out when she wouldn't stop being the Slayer. Buffy was gone for an entire summer, and when she came back, Mom just decided to deal. She died a few years ago from an aneurysm."

"I'm sorry. What about your dad?"

"Oh, Hank bailed on us before we moved to Sunnydale." Dawn said, turning back to her work. "They got a divorce and he moved to Spain with his secretary."

"How did you kids stay sane?" Elizabeth wondered out loud.

After a long moment of silence, Dawn signed and put away her books. "To tell you the truth, sometimes we don't think we did."


	13. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

"Couldn't sleep again?" Buffy asked.

"Actually, I just thought you could use the company." Elizabeth replied, moving to stand next to her at the railing. "How did you deal with the insomnia the other times?"

"Well, like I said before, I took a jumper up here to the surface to stargaze. I took it out of orbit to float in space sometimes, but when I'm feeling really antsy, I went camping on the mainland."

"The mainland?" Elizabeth looked at her. "There's land on this planet?"

"Yeah." Buffy grinned. "It's about a half hour that way." She pointed out over the water. "You might want to let Teyla know. The Athosians are the 'fend for themselves' type and they're not going to want to be cooped up here for very long."

"I'll talk to her tomorrow." Elizabeth nodded.

They stood looking out over the calm waters in comfortable silence. Elizabeth had been joining Buffy on her late night stargazing for more than a week. Buffy had even gotten Elizabeth into a 'Jumper and out into orbit a few times. Now, as they talked about her previous bouts of insomnia, Buffy was startled to realize that all of her access energy hadn't been bothering her nearly as much while in Elizabeth's company. The restlessness that always plagued her, even when she exhausted herself with activities in the colonies that she visited, was simply not there this time. She wondered if it was the fact that her days were constantly filled with more than enough activity, or if it was Elizabeth, herself. Covertly studying the woman beside her, she thought back to what Willow had told her about her possible desire to mate. She wondered, not for the first time, if her Slayer instincts had found its focus. _I've really got to talk to __Willow__ about this_. She thought to herself.

Although Buffy didn't know it, Elizabeth's thoughts were running along similar tracks. For some reason, it seemed like the more she got to know the Slayer, the more she was fascinated and attracted to her. She found herself wanting to know everything about the other woman, what she thought about when she went silent and reflective, how her lips would feel pressed against her own, whether her skin was as soft as it looked. Elizabeth's mind stopped with a mental jerk as she realized where her thoughts had strayed. She was about to excuse herself and go to her room when the body beside her suddenly straightened with a hard jerk. "Buffy?"

Buffy stood frozen, eyes staring vacantly at the sky above. In her eyes, though, the night sky had faded into a bright, clear day on a planet she hadn't visited for nearly thirty years. The first chevron appeared just as Wraith darts came screaming from the clouds above. The people of the targeted city immediately panicked and began frantically running through the streets. The remaining six chevrons appeared in intervals as Buffy watched the city's militia fight desperately against the hordes of Wraith soldiers as the citizens were swept up in transporter beams. She saw the last chevron just as a Wraith hiveship began firing on the city.

Buffy gasped and blinked rapidly as the vision ended. Feeling a pulse beat against her palm, she looked down to see holding Elizabeth against the wall with her hand around her throat.

"Oh, God, are you all right?" Buffy paled and backed away.

"I'm fine. You didn't hurt me, just held me against the wall when I tried to touch you."

"I am so sorry." Buffy said.

"It's okay." Elizabeth assured her. "Do you want to tell me what just happened?"

"Get your teams together." Buffy told her. "There's about to be a massive culling."

Then she was gone. Elizabeth watched as she ran through the gateroom, using her comm to wake her sister and friends and tell them to meet her in her chambers.

Shaking her head in bemusement, Elizabeth went into the control room. "Please call Major Sheppard and his team to the conference room."

- BtVS - SG-1 - SG:A -

"What's up, Buff?" Xander asked. "I was kicking butt in Halo 2."

"There's a culling about to take place." Buffy told him. "Time to go to work. Grab some weapons, go get dressed and meet me in the hanger bay."

_'Scooby Team to the Conference Room.'_ Announced a voice over the comm. _'Scooby Team to the Conference Room.'_

Everyone looked to Buffy, who shrugged. "I guess we meet in the Conference Room." She pressed a button her desk to respond. "We'll be there in ten minutes."

Dawn grabbed a crossbow, a quiver of bolts and a pair of shortswords. Willow took a slim katana-like sword. She planned to see how well her magic worked against these creatures. Xander just grabbed a large hunting knife. He planned to use his issued P-90 and handgun as primary weapons. Then, Buffy took a deep breath and pulled down her primary weapons. A beautifully crafted sword, a replica of the Slayer scythe and a and a matching pair of knives that had been in the weapons locker the when she first awoke. All the other weapons had been made or traded for.

"All right, guys. Ten minutes in the Conference Room." Buffy told them. "We're not staying long, so be ready to leave immediately after."

Buffy watched her family leave to get dressed. Quickly changing her own clothes, she sheathed her weapons and slid into her coat. Opening another compartment in her closet, she pulled out three sealed packages. She detoured to the hanger bay quickly before meeting the with others in the corridor leading to the Conference Room. They walked into the room together, moving like the natural team their past had made them, and took their seats as Elizabeth started the meeting.

"Twenty minutes ago, Buffy told me that here was a culling about to take place."

"How could you know such a thing?" Teyla asked curiously.

Buffy looked around the table and stood up. "I don't have a lot of time, so I'll tell this once, then we're gone, because the vision happened shortly before the actual attack. I'm a Slayer. Along with all the nifty superpowers and enhanced senses, we were also saddled with prophetic dreams. My dreams got shifted to more current visions of Wraith cullings of the larger scale, usually where whole civilizations are going to be wiped out. The vision gives me the highlights of the attack, along with the gate address. Then I go and start killing the Wraith, basically culling them like they cull humans."

Buffy turned to Elizabeth. "I understand that you have your own procedures for engaging the enemy, but my job is to get there as fast as I can, kill as many of the Wraith as I can, and save as many people as I can. Repeat as needed. Now, I've got the vision, and I've got the address, so now it's time for me to do what I was brought here to do. So, we'll see you when you get there."

With that, she walked out of the room, and the rest of the Scooby team quickly followed. Elizabeth stared after her for a moment, then simply nodded to John. "Go, but follow her lead."

John nodded and jumped up from his seat, followed by McKay, Ford and Teyla. As they quickly made their way to the room designated for the weapons storage, John commed Buffy. "Wait for us, Buffy. We're on our way to the hanger bay."

_'Hurry up, then.'_ Came the abrupt answer.


	14. Chapter Thirteen

A/N: I'm not really sure how old Dawn was at the end of the series, so for the purpose of this story, she's a few months shy of 20. She finished high school late because the evacuation of Sunnydale happened during the middle of her sophomore year and they were constantly moving around until they finally settled down on the Hellmouth in Cleveland.

Chapter Thirteen

"Hey, I've got something for you guys." Buffy said as they walked to the hanger. "I had them made in case I ever managed to get back home."

"Ooh, I like presents." Dawn piped up.

They followed Buffy into the hanger bay. She stopped before a wall and swiped her hand over a panel that they hadn't noticed. The wall slid to the side to reveal a ship different from the Puddlejumpers that filled the hanger, but was instantly recognizable.

"Oh, wow, Buff." Xander exclaimed. "That is cool!"

"You like it?" Buffy escorted them inside. "Welcome aboard the _Mystery Machine_."

The ship before them was designed to look like the 'White Star' class fighter from the tv show _Babylon__ 5_. It had been one of Buffy's favorite television shows, and she'd had every episode on tape. They walked up the ramp into the ship. The consoles were similar to the Puddlejumpers, including a Dialing Console. "The Maerdin's, the people who made the memory photos, helped me design it. It's mostly Ancient technology, but I've also got transporting technology similar to what the Wraith darts use. It has some kind of organic technology, so it can repair itself and recognize friends and enemies."

"Those are for you." Buffy pointed to the packages on the seats. "They were also made by the Maerdin. Put them on and fasten them all the way up."

Willow, Xander and Dawn each pickup up a long overcoat similar to the one Buffy was wearing. Unlike Buffy's coat, their's were a bland gray color. They looked at each othen, then back at Buffy, who was leaning against her seat, waiting patiently. Finally, Xander shrugged and put his on, followed by Willow and Dawn. A few moments after the finished fastening the coat, the gray color rippled and changed into their favorite colors. A few moments after that, the colors rippled again, turning into designs. For Dawn, her coat had shifted to a pale green color. Around the cuffs were the shapes of different keys. Willow coat turned a deep burgundy color with a white collar and cuffs. Xander's coat had turned black and dark green, much like colors of the military people.

"Buffy?" Willow asked, confused.

"The coats are a type of organic technology. When you fastened them, small filaments entered your pores and absorbed your DNA to bond with the coat. It changed to reflect who you are. It will keep your body at optimal body temperature, so you don't have to worry about getting hot or cold unless it's in extreme conditions, like a desert or an arctic planet. It is also strong enough to serve as body armor, but only when it is completely fastened. There are also subspace pockets on the inside for weapons and such. If you think of what you need, the coat will make sure that it's what you pull out."

As Buffy explained the unique coats, Willow looked closely at Buffy's. It was a pale blue at the top that darkened to a midnight color going down. It reminded Willow of twilight, that place between day and night, and she realized that, that was exactly what the Slayers were. Warriors caught between the light and the darkness.

_'Wait for us, Buffy. We're on our way to the hanger bay.'_ They heard John just as Buffy finished her explanations.

Buffy rolled her eyes and responded. "Hurry up, then."

- BtVS - SG-1 - SG:A -

"Peter, take note of that gate address." Elizabeth said as chevrons on the Stargate began to light up.

"The _Mystery Machine_ is ready to go." Buffy stated as the ship lowered into the gateroom.

There were murmurs and traded glances when they saw Buffy's ship. While most of the personnel recognized the shape from the popular tv show, it was the name that had them laughing.

"Puddlejumper ready for launch."

"Good luck, everyone." Elizabeth said as the two ships entered the event horizon.

The ships disappeared from sight upon exiting the Stargate. As they flew over the treetops, they could see Wraith darts zipping around in the distance, glimmering lights indicating their transporters scooping up the panicking people. They could also see the energy blasts striking the city from orbit.

"John, I'm sending you schematics for those darts." Buffy punched a series of keys on her console. "You need to disable as many of those darts as possible so I can get those people out. We're going up to the hive ship. My ship can target and take them out automatically, so we're going planet side to take out the ground troops."

_'Got 'em.'_ John responded. _'I'm leaving Ford at the wheel, and we'll meet you down there.'_

Buffy pressed a button and a slot opened near her head. She removed something the others couldn't see and pressed it to her temple. "C'mon, guys. Let's go to work."

She led them towards the rear of the ship. Willow saw her close eyes momentarily before they were surrounded by a white light. A moment later, she was looking around in astonishment, watching people running around frantically, and trying to hold back her nausea.

"Does anyone else feel upside down?" Xander asked shakily.

"Take a deep breath and exhale slowly." Buffy told them. "The first time is always the worst."

The Scoobies to several deep breaths until their feelings of vertigo passed.

"Okay, now?" Buffy asked

"Yeah." "I'm good." "Let's do it."

They all pulled weapons from their coats as they listened to Buffy's instructions. "Keep your heads, guys. Wraith give off visual phantoms to confuse people." They were nodded when the sound of running behind them heralded the arrival of John and Teyla. "There are maybe four or five dozen foot soldiers out there, so we're going to split up. Teyla and John, Willow and Xander, and Dawn's with me. Before you ask, Dawn, no it isn't so I can keep an eyes on you. You've got my crossbow." Buffy added when her sister opened her mouth. Dawn flushed and nodded. "Aim high, for the neck or eyes. Teyla, are you comfortable with those guns, or would you rather have a blade?"

"I will use the guns to become accustomed." The Athosian said.

"Willow, I want you to try your magic on them. Fire, Ice and Lightning, although I think fire would work best since they're bugs. If you feel that your control is threatened, even just a little, use the sword. I don't want anyone taking unnecessary chances. Just like at home, beheading works best. Kill them quickly and move on, we've still got that hive ship to take out."

"Wait? What?!" John interrupted. "Hiveship??"

"Questions later." Buffy responded shortly. "Time to move. GO!"

Without another word, Buffy took off directly into the melee with Dawn close behind. Willow and Xander shrugged at the Major's flabbergasted expression before running off towards another group of soldiers.

"John, should we not be moving?" Teyla asked.

John shook his head tersely and nodded. Moving quickly, they picked off the Wraith warriors as Ford, McKay and the _Mystery Machine_ systematically took down dart after dart. Buffy called for frequent check-ins to make sure none of the got picked up.


	15. Chapter Fourteen

A/N: OK, everybody, this is my first real action scene so, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, tell me what you think!!!

Chapter Fourteen

Willow and Xander moved carefully through the running people. Everywhere they looked, there was chaos. Rubble littered the streets and terrified people ran stumbling over the now-uneven streets. They ducked back into the shadows as a small Wraith patrol passed then. With Xander keeping them in his sights, they carefully followed the foot soldiers. He watched with interest as Willow threw a ball of ice, a ball of energy and a ball of fire into the back of the group before he opened fire on the others. Willow pulled her sword and followed up on her initial attack even as she gauged the effectiveness of each spell.

The Wraith his with the ball of ice stumbled forward from the impact. It's body froze for a moment as the cold seeped into it, but it was able to shake off the effects relatively quickly. With two quick swipes of the ultra-sharp blade, Willow cut off the arm that was raising its weapon, then cut off its head on the return strike.

The ball of energy that hit the second Wraith sent it down to one knee as its body convulsed into spasms. The spasms were already tapering off by the time Willow finished off the first. Without hesitation, she put her sword through the creature's throat with a vicious thrust, then she quickly beheaded it as well.

The fireball was the most effective by far, just as Buffy predicted. The moment it impacted, the Wraith gave off this high pitched screeching that hurt their ears. It even startled the other Wraith, long enough for Xander and Willow to finish them off before continuing to watch as the flames quickly spread to engulf the creature, burning it until there was nothing left. It reminded Willow of Greek Fire.

"Wow, Will. You've gotten really good with that." Xander praised.

Willow smiles. "Yeah. Faith said that I had to really learn if I was going to patrol with the new Slayers, so she trained me herself. She told me that she promised Buffy that she would take care of us.

_"Everyone check in."_ They heard Buffy command.

- BtVS - SG-1 - SG:A

"You ready for this, Dawnie?" Buffy asked.

"Piece of cake." Dawn responded.

"All right, then." Buffy drew her sword as they came upon a group of warriors chasing down some women and children. "Keep your distance and watch your back."

Dawn stopped and fell to one knee to aim carefully. Just as Buffy connected a high spin kick to the first Wraith's head, and used the momentum to beheaded the one next to it, another sprouted a crossbow bolt from its eye just as it was about to fire it's weapon, causing it to shoot harmlessly at a wall. A vicious uppercut sent one of the creatures flying through the air crash into the wall next to the group of huddled people. As it crumpled out of the indent it's body made on impact, a woman and a couple of the older children struggled to lift a large piece of building debris, until they were able to move it over the unmoving monster and drop it on it's head, flinching at the crunch and thud.

Between the Summers sisters, they made quick work of the Wraith in their path, and soon Buffy as standing among the dead and the dying. "You people get out of here." She activated her comm. as she watched the group run off. "Everyone check in."

_"We're fine, but a little busy here."_ John responded. They could hear the gunfire and Buffy could make out Wraith stunner blasts.

"Scrappy Doo here." Dawn smirked at her.

Buffy smirked back. "I guess that makes me Daphne." They could hear Xander and Willow laughing.

_"Shaggy and Velma, present and accounted for."_ Xander managed to check out.

_"Who are these people?"_ Teyla asked, her confusion clear in her voice.

_"I'll explain later"_ John chuckled.

_"We got most of the darts," _Ford announced. _"But a bunch of them headed for orbit."_

"Don't follow!" Buffy ordered. "Come down here and give us a hand. Everybody make their way to the central fountain. It's in the center of the city." She pressed a finger to her temple, and Dawn watched as a holographic lens formed over her eyes. "Collect and convert."

In the air, Ford and McKay saw Buffy's ship complete an attack on a Wraith dart, then do a complete 180° turn and take off in the opposite direction.

"Did you see that?" McKay stammered, wide eyed. "Ships can't do that."

"Well, apparently, that one can." Ford said as he maneuvered the 'Jumper into a clearing close to the city. "Let's go, McKay."

The three groups systematically worked their way through the city, taking out every Wraith soldier they could find. They finally met at the central fountain, Xander had run out of ammo and resorted to his knife, Dawn had also been forced to use her blades, and had impressed her sister with just how well she had learned under Faith and Giles.

"Area-wide and orbital scan for Wraith signatures." Buffy commanded her ship before turning to the others. "Everyone okay?"

They nodded. Keeping eyes on every direction, they all took the momentary breather while the ship completed the scan. The scan showed Buffy that between her groups and the city's own militia, they had managed to eliminate almost all of the Wraith on the ground. She could see that several darts were breaking orbit for the Hive ship in space above the city. She turned to Sheppard.

"I'm taking the Scoobies up to the Hive ship." She told him. "I need you to stay down here and get these people situated."

"Hold on, now." Sheppard protested. "You can't take these kids up there. Those are the Wraith that actually does the feeding."

"We're better protected than you are." Buffy said shortly. "And we know how to take on an army of monsters and survive. Your only experience with in a Wraith Hive ship was with a couple of caretakers and warriors that are little more than drones. All of the Wraith are awake now. _All of them!_ The ships are full of Wraith that are stronger and faster than you are. They feed and can regenerate as fast as you can shoot them. What good are your guns going to be against them?"

John had no answer. Everything she was saying was, unfortunately, making sense. "I get what you're saying. I really do. What I don't understand, though, is why you'd rather take kids into something like this instead of trained military."

Buffy looked at her sister and friends. "They've fought by my side almost as long as I've been a Slayer. They've fought fledglings and Master Vampires and Upper and Lower level demons. They've helped me defeat insane hell-gods and talk down powerful witches gone insane from grief. They've helped me stop apocalypses and military mistakes. In this kind of situation, we have more field time and tactical experience than an entire black ops squad. So, for now, we're going and, until I can get you trained on weapons that can remove a head from the rest of the body, you're not."

- BtVS - SG-1 - SG:A

"You didn't have to be so blunt, Buff." Xander commented quietly. "They're just trying to help."

Buffy sighed. "I know that, Xander, but they're military, with a military mindset, and if there's one thing I learned from dealing with the Initiative guys, it's that blunt is always the best way to get the message across. I'm not going to take them into a situation that they can't get out of just because they think they can handle it. I want to get them trained, and be _sure_ that they can handle it, and one thing they have to learn is that guns are not always the best way to do things." Not having to explain herself was something that she was _really_ going to miss, she thought to herself.

They were on the _Mystery Machine,_ heading for the hive ship in orbit. Xander had been quiet for most of the ride, watching as Buffy worked the controls of her ship and explaining the ship's features to Willow and Dawn. When they had first boarded back on the planet, she had them give the ship a sample of their DNA by sticking their fingers into a slot for some reason that she hadn't told them yet.

"Get ready, guys." Buffy said as they approached the large Wraith mothership. Xander was now armed with a spare broadsword that Buffy'd had in her coat. "I want us all to stay together. We'll work our way through."

"Can we kill them all?" Dawn asked.

"No, that would be impossible." Buffy told her. "There are several thousand warriors and several hundred of the higher level Wraith. The ones that actually do the feeding. The coats will protect you from the stunners, but they are still coats. The Wraith can rip the coat open to feed off of you, so please be careful. They're smarter and faster than the ones we dealt with on the surface. Think of them as Master Vamps, about the caliber of Spike when he first arrived in Sunnydale, and you'd be about close."

Suddenly, the _Mystery Machine_ powered up and fired at the hive ship. With a burst of speed, the little ship flew directly into the explosion, entering the hive ship at high speed and scattering the bodies that were sucked out of the gaping hole.

"Drop the Angels." Buffy ordered.

"Angels?" Willow asked.

"They're anti-matter bombs." Buffy explained. "The _Machine_ collected the Wraith body parts earlier and converted them into bombs. It'll take about an hour for the bombs to settle and then the _Machine_ will track us down to pick us up. As soon as we're clear, the bombs will detonate. Until then, we kill as many as we can."

"Wraith bombs? That's cool." Xander exclaimed, wide-eyed and grinning, his earlier argument forgotten. "I like the plan, too. Simple and straight forward, just like the old days."

"Is everyone ready?" They moved to the back and, standing back to back to each other. "Let's do this."


	16. Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

Elizabeth stood on the balcony outside the gateroom, gazing over the ocean and trying to calm her mind. It had been several hours since she was last standing here with Buffy when Buffy had gotten her vision. Several hours since she had sent her people to do battle with the Wraith, and there was still no word. The wait was driving her nuts. Taking a deep breath, she tried to gather her thoughts and calm her mind. She had been in charge of the SGC back on Earth for several weeks, and she had never felt this kind of trepidation when they had gone on missions against the Goa'uld. She took another deep breath, and turned her gaze inward. Maybe it was because, unlike the Stargate Command, Atlantis truly was _her_ command. These were her people and, despite the fact that they were the ones with the military knowledge, they were _her_ responsibility. Was that it? Was that the cause of this uneasy feeling making her chest heavy? She thought about that and finally, she shook her head. That wasn't it. Over the last several days, the SG teams had gone through the gate several times on diplomatic, trading or simple exploring missions. On several occasions, they had engaged the Wraith and managed to come away with minimal casualties. She sighed, forcing herself to acknowledge the real cause of her disquiet. She was worried about the Scoobies. Tipping her head back, Elizabeth stared blindly at the cloudless blue sky she was worried about Buffy.

"Dr. Weir, we have an incoming wormhole." Peter Grodin interrupted her thoughts.

"Raise the shield." She ordered, immediately turning to business.

_"Elizabeth, we need the Doc and a team."_ Sheppard's voice came over the comm.

"How are things going?" Elizabeth asked.

_"We've taken care of all the Wraith that were on the ground."_ The Major reported. _"We've also managed to bring down most of the darts. Buffy said that she had a way to get those people out of the transporters."_

"Is that what she's doing now?"

_"Ah… not quite.__ She took the other Scoobies up to the hive ship."_

"Excuse me?" Elizabeth said, shocked.

_"Oh, yeah."_ Sheppard sounded irritated. _"She took her team to take out the hive ship in orbit."_

"Before Elizabeth could think of any kind of response to that revelation, Dr. Beckett was ready with his team. "John, disengage the wormhole so that we can dial back. Carson is ready."

_"Right."_ Sheppard acknowledged. _"Send over another team as well. We can help set up some temporary shelters while we're here."_

"Major Lorne, get your people ready to head out." Elizabeth said to the man at her side.

"Yes, Ma'am." Lorne responded. He called for his teammates over the comm. as the wormhole disengaged.

"Peter, dial back." Elizabeth told her assistance as Lorne's team entered the gateroom fully armed. One of his men carried a backpack and weaponry for the Major himself. Everyone kept back a respectable distance to avoid the backwash of the opening wormhole, then prepared to move out. "I want a status report in one hour, Major Lorne. One hour. Pass the word."

- BtVS - SG-1 - SG:A -

"Okay, guys." Buffy said to the others. "The _Machine_ is on its way back."

"Geez, it's about time." Xander gasped as he ducked around a corner to avoid a stun blast.

They had reached the corridor where the captured prisoners were being held. Buffy had already broken into the doors, but she had cautioned the people to stay inside until they while they fought the Wraith that were trying to capture them.

It was ten long minutes before they could hear the weapons fire from Buffy's ship.

"Hey Will, can you create a firewall to keep them back?" Willow nodded and back away to concentrate. "All right, Xander, let's push them back a bit."

Xander nodded as he swung his sword to slice open the chest of the Wraith in front of him. A moment later, they had pushed they managed to hold them off long enough for Willow's spell to take effect, and the Scoobies found themselves separated from their enemies by a wall of flames just as the _Mystery Machine_ blew out the wall above to hover over them.

"All right, everybody, time to go." Buffy said to the huddle prisoners. "Get in a circle right over there."

Buffy directed the people where she wanted them, then beamed herself and her friends into the ship. Then Buffy maneuvered them over the others and beamed them aboard as well.

"Where are they, Buffy?" Dawn asked. She had seen the people disappear, but they didn't reappear inside the ship.

"They're in energy storage, kind of like what the Wraith darts use. It's the only way I would be able to get people off the ships before they blew."

"Darn it, Buffy!" Willow whined. "You _have_ to let me have a look at those specs!"

Buffy just grinned at her and shrugged. As they ship made its way back to the planet, Buffy produced a handheld device and showed them how to use it to get them people of the dart transporters.

- BtVS - SG-1 - SG:A -

"Hey, Doc." John greeted the CMO as they came through the gate. "We've got a spot cleared for you to set up over there."

"Thank you." Dr. Beckett said. "How bad are they?"

"Mostly stun blasts and injuries from falling debris." John told him. "Just a few casualties, and all of the Wraith bodies has mysteriously disappeared."

"Disappeared?"

"Yeah. A few of the people said that the bodies vanished in a flash of light as a ship flew overhead, so I'm not going to worry about until I talk to Buffy."

"And where is the young lady and her friends." Beckett asked. "I have been meaning to speak with her. I have not been able to access her medical records from the computers. They seem to be inaccessible from any terminal other than her own, and I must have some frame of reference to work with if she becomes injured."

"I'll be sure to let her know." John promised, then he turned to Major Lorne and his team. "Let's put up some barrack tents for now, then we can help them get up some temporary shelters. I want someone in a 'jumper every two hours, checking for any movement that isn't us."

"Yes, sir." Lorne responded. "Dr. Weir said that she wanted a status report in one hour, sir. I don't think she was too pleased with your last report."

John snorted. "Yeah, well, I'm not too happy with being left behind myself."

They had been working for nearly an hour when the radios crackled. _"Hey, Sheppard, we're on our way back."_

John pressed the button on his to respond. "All right, but hurry up. Elizabeth wants a status report in about twenty minutes. We need to do it from either the 'Jumper or your ship." He crossed his fingers when he heard Buffy laugh.

_"All right, John."_ Buffy chuckled. _"We can do it from here."_

The moment they landed, John was in the ship like a kid in a candy store. Buffy watched him in amusement before speaking. "Calm down, John-boy, the controls work for me only."

"Ah, c'mon. You're not gonna let me fly it?" He looked so disappointed that Dawn nearly fell out of her seat, laughing.

"Nope. You can't fly it, and McKay can't study it."

_"What? What do you mean I can't study it?"_

Buffy had made sure that the comm. link was open when she made the last remark. She wanted to be sure McKay heard her.

"Nope." Buffy grinned wickedly. "If you want to know about the _Machine_, you're just gonna have to ask Willow."

_"WHAT?!?!?"_

"Don't we have to call home?" Willow asked quickly, hoping to forestall the oncoming confrontation.

"Right, right." Dawn added. "You said Dr. Weir wanted a report."

Buffy waited another moment before relenting and dialing the gate. "There you go, John. Dawn, Xander, go and get those people out of the darts."

Sheppard still looked disappointed, much to the amusement of the Scoobies. "Elizabeth, this is Sheppard."


	17. Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

Buffy ignored the chime as she continued her kata. The fight on the hive ship had left her wired and, although she had held it in check when she had first returned to the planet, it had made itself known during her confrontation with Elizabeth over attacking the hive ship without the backup of Sheppard's team. It surfaced with a vengeance when they arrived back at Atlantis. The scattering of Wraith genes in the Athosians grated on her Slayer instincts, which demanded that she destroy the threat that was so close to her and so close to those she loved and protected.

The chime rang out again, and again she ignored it.

On top of all that, the adrenaline rush from the fight with the Wraith was fading and, although she had never admitted to it when Faith had asked her so long ago, she did, like all other Slayers, suffer from the 'Double H's' after such an intense life and death battle. In the past, she did what worked for her on the Hellmouth. She ignored it until it overwhelmed her, then she discreetly took care of it. Although she had never had strong feelings for anyone other than Angel and Spike, she had long ago admitted to herself that she was bi-sexual, like her Slayer sister, just not as blatantly obvious.

The chime rang for a third time just as she finished the long, complicated kata. With a growl of irritation, she went to answer the door. Her frustration derailed when the door slid aside to reveal Elizabeth Weir. Her breathing froze when all of her Slayer instincts suddenly flared and focused sharply as their eyes met and Elizabeth's scent swamped her senses.

"You left so abruptly that I wanted to be sure that you were all right." Elizabeth said. When Buffy simply stared at her without responding, Elizabeth became concerned. "Buffy?"

Buffy shook her head to clear it. "Oh, uh, sorry. Kinda zoned out for a second. What did you say?"

"I wanted to see if you were all right." Elizabeth repeated. "You left rather suddenly."

Buffy nodded and waved her in. She grabbed a towel to wipe off the sweat as she explained. "I'm still a bit jazzed from the fight. A lot of the Athosians have latent Wraith genes, like we have Ancient genes, and it's setting of my instincts, making me want to take out the threat."

"You didn't react that way to them before." Elizabeth commented, a little confused. "When you entered the Gateroom after you first woke up."

"Actually, they were the reason I was heading for the Gateroom in the first place." Buffy told her. "The Wraith genes in Teyla are stronger, and not quite so dormant, so when she flew in with Sheppard, the Slayer focused on her as the most immediate threat."

Buffy had moved further into the room and sat down on the bed. Her senses still felt swamped by Elizabeth's presence, and it was a struggle to respond normally to the woman. The need to destroy her enemy transformed into a need to take. It was flooding her body, washing coherent thought from her mind. _Mate,_ the word floated through her mind as she breathed in Elizabeth's scent. _Take her, _her Slayer side urged. _Take our mate_. A deep, familiar throbbing began low in her abdomen, and it took all of Buffy's control not to jump the woman looking at her with worry clear in her eyes.

"Buffy, are you all right?" Elizabeth asked, worriedly. Buffy had trailed off and started staring at her with unnerving intensity. Her heart began to pound as she saw the Slayer's pupils dilate and her expression shift to pure lust. Elizabeth swallowed nervously. "Buffy?"

"Hmm?" Buffy responded, her voice a rough, rumbling purr. Her nostrils flared as Elizabeth's scent changed. She could detect the other woman's nervousness and a twinge of fear, but underneath it was arousal. Buffy licked her lips as the scents began to get stronger, not realizing that she had risen from the bed and was slowing making her way across the room.

"Buffy, where are you?" Xander's voice suddenly boomed over the comm. "You're missing the party."

It was enough to bring Buffy back to her senses. She focused through the haze in her mind to find herself mere inches from the other woman, and every muscle in her body felt coiled to strike.

"Elizabeth?"

The Atlantis Commander was nearly gasping with relief as she saw the Slayer's eyes focus on her clearly. She didn't know what had just happened, but she knew one thing with frightening clarity. She now knew what it felt like to be stalked, like a predator stalks its prey. Her heart was pounding in her chest so hard she was surprised that the other woman couldn't hear it, but it wasn't from fear, she realized. At least, not completely. It wasn't a threat of harm on Buffy's features as she approached, but something much more dangerous in Elizabeth's mind. She had seen that look directed at her one time before. In college, on a rare night when she had ignored her studies to party with her boyfriend and their friends. They had gone out to a bar and gotten drunk, and ended up in a bar brawl that was interrupted by approaching sirens. The college students had made their escape and returned to campus without incident. The moment Elizabeth and her boyfriend were alone in her dorm room, her boyfriend had turned to her with that exact same expression and a minute later, Elizabeth had found herself being thoroughly, almost roughly, taken against the door, and enjoying every moment. Even now, years later, thoughts of that night brought a low ache.

"Buffy, you there?" Xander commed again.

"I think I'd better rejoin the others before someone comes looking." Elizabeth said quietly. She watched Buffy shake her head, obviously trying to clear it. "Would you like me to send Carson to take a look at you? I believe he wants to talk to you about your medical records anyway."

"N-no, he can't help." Buffy answered after a moment. "S-send Willow."

Elizabeth nodded and moved to the door, keeping her movements slow and calm. "Dawn and Xander as well?"

"Just Willow."

With Elizabeth gone, Buffy managed to regain control of herself by the time Willow arrived. The witch took one look at her friend and hurried over to her side. "Buffy, what's wrong?"

Buffy glanced at her friend, then looked away. "Nothing's wrong, unless you count nearly ripping Elizabeth's clothes off and taking her right against the door."

Willow's eyes widened in surprise, not expecting that. "Okay, you're going to have to explain that one."

Taking a deep breath, Buffy tried to explain what she could recall of the earlier incident. As she listened to the stumbling explanation, Willow began to piece together what had happened. Her mouth almost dropped open in shock when she realized that Buffy had almost attacked the Atlantis Commander in the heat of Slayer Lust. It was only the instinctive knowledge that Buffy was barely holding on to her composure that allowed the witch to hide the depth of her surprise.

Willow looked at her friend closely. Buffy was nearly vibrating with barely suppressed energy, pacing around the room as if she was unable to remain still. With sudden insight, she realized that she had seen Buffy like this before. So often, if fact, that when she was told about slayer lust, or the 'Double H's' as Faith had called it, that she simply never associated it with her best friend, not questioning the brush off Buffy had muttered when Faith had confronted her about it. And if she hadn't realized it, she was sure that Xander and Giles hadn't either. Suddenly, she wondered how Buffy had managed to hide it from it so successfully, why she hid it at all, and how she had managed to take care of it without them knowing.

Those were questions that would have to wait until later, however, as she realized that Buffy had finished speaking and her own continued silence was causing the Slayer to fidget nervously.

"Willow?"

"I'm sorry, Buffy." Willow apologized, forcing herself to refocus as she grinned crookedly. "I was just having a Xander moment."

It was Buffy's turn for wide-eyed surprise. Then, with a sharp exhale, she rolled her eyes and relaxed. A little. Finally, Buffy sat down next to the witch. "What am I going to do, Will?"

"It's just slayer lust, Buffy." Willow said. "How did you take care of it in the past. What's the big deal this time? Is it because she's the Leader of this Facility, or because she's a woman?"

"Uhh… it's definitely not because she's a woman." Buffy assured her friend. "The problem is that this isn't a simple case of slayer lust. That, I can handle. I've never felt anything like this before. This feels wild and really out of control."

"But isn't slayer lust always wild and out of control?" Willow asked.

"In a way," Buffy acknowledged. "But not like this. Slayer lust is a need to be satisfied, and if it was just that, then I'd still be feeling the intensity. This almost feels like a compulsion. It feels deeper, kind of like some buried instinct making it's way to the surface. When Elizabeth walked in here, all I could concentrate on was her scent."

"Her scent?"

The slayer nodded as she relaxed and stretched out on the bed. "Everyone has a scent, Will, and a taste that's just their own. It's a type of animal recognition, and it changes with the person's emotions. Fear, anger, love or hate." Suddenly she looked right at into the witch's eyes. "Even arousal."

Suddenly, Willow flushed slightly and smiled weakly. Buffy grinned and broke the eye contact to give her friend a moment to compose herself. Just the thought of that delicious scent had a trickle of arousal snaking through her and her voice turned low and husky as she continued. "Anyway, her scent kinda filled all my senses, and it was like my Slayer side was just urging me to take her. To make her mine and put my scent on her as well. It was the most intense thing I've ever felt, and if Xander hadn't called, I honestly don't know what would have happened."

Willow pushed away the thoughts brought on by her words spoken in that voice. She mentally slapped herself for an obviously missed opportunity with the blonde, then she forced herself to concentrate on the problem at hand. "Do you think this might have something to do with that mating thing in your files?"

Buffy sighed and nodded. "That's what I was thinking. This isn't good, Will. I have no experience with this, so I have no control. I could hurt Elizabeth."

"What do you want to do?"

"I don't know. It's not like there's a whole lot I _can_ do. My senses are so strong now that anywhere I go in the city, that scent will haunt me. Goddess, Willow, that scent makes my mouth water. I _do_ know that I need to stay away from her until I get a handle on this so I don't attack her in front of her people. That would be bad on so many levels."

"Do you want me to talk to her?" Willow offered. "You know, give her a heads up."

"Would you?" Buffy looked so grateful that Willow laughed as she nodded. "Thanks, Will. You're the best."


	18. Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

Willow stood in the corridor watching Buffy walk away. With a sigh, she activated her comm. Link to a private channel. "Dr. Weir, this is Willow."

"Go ahead, Willow." Weir answered.

"Buffy's taking the _Mystery Machine_ out of orbit so that she can get her head together. I need to track down Dawn and Xander, and then I think we need to talk."

"All right." Weir answered after a moment's hesitation. "My office in half an hour?"

"See you then." Willow leaned against the wall as she though back over all she had just learned. Buffy had been her best friend for nearly ten years, even though she had been here in the Pegasus Galaxy for the last three. How could they have not recognized the slayer lust in Buffy for all those years, especially after Faith had told them about it? Buffy gave off such an intense sexual energy that Willow felt something very deep inside her shiver in aroused reaction. Taking a few deep breaths, she stops by her room to grab her laptop before going off to find the others.

"What's going on, Willow?" Xander asked. "You look like you got hit by a bus."

"We've got kind of a problem." Willow told him. The worried expression on her face was enough to drag him and Dawn away from the victory celebration. Leading them into Elizabeth's office, she sets up her computer and accesses Buffy's files as she tries to order her thoughts. "I want to wait for Elizabeth. She needs to know about this."

"What's going on, Will?" Xander pressed.

"Is it Buffy?" Dawn added. "She never came to the party."

"Yes, it's about Buffy, but I don't want to go over this more than I have to, so I want to wait for Dr. Weir."

A few minutes later, when Xander opened his mouth again, Dawn beat him to the punch. "Here she comes."

They could see Elizabeth enter the Control Room with Dr. Beckett, and could faintly hear their conversation.

"Elizabeth, if I am to be responsible for the well being of these people, then I need their medical files, including Ms. Summers'. The records that you gave me before are at more than three years old, and the current records are not accessible from the medical labs."

"I know, Carson." Elizabeth said diplomatically. "I'll remind her again, but beyond that, it's out of my hands. She does not fall under my command. To be perfectly honest, none of them do." Elizabeth glanced up and saw the Scoobies looking back at her. "I have to take care of something now, so you go on to and enjoy the party. I doubt we'll have many of them."

Carson smiled and left her with a nod. Unconsciously bracing herself, Elizabeth walked into her office and took her seat. "All right, Willow, you said that we needed to talk. I take it that this has to do with the, ahh, incident earlier."

"Incident?" Elizabeth watching in surprise as Xander's body language was suddenly focused and alert. "There was an incident?"

"Yes, it does." Willow answered Elizabeth and momentarily ignored Xander. "I think it would be better if you know everything." She took a moment to open the files on her computer. "These are the Buffy's medical records from her console. Before you say anything, we know that Dr. Becket wants them, but he's not going to get them."

"May I ask, why not?" Elizabeth asked, her brow rising. "That is, after all, his department."

"Most of Buffy's medical records give no reference to her abilities," Willow explained. "but these do. This is information that does not need to fall in the wrong hands. I'm sorry, Dr. Weir, but we would never trust anyone enough with that. Especially the military. Besides, her body heals itself, so he really doesn't need them."

Elizabeth thought about that and realized that, although she might not like it, she did understand. She trusted that Carson had nothing but good intentions, but she couldn't be certain about the rest the Atlantis team. "All right, I'll let him know."

Willow exhaled deeply. "Okay, then. Well, despite what we know, Buffy's actually been here on Atlantis for at least a hundred years. Tara and Oma Desala put her here in the past so that she could evolve enough for this fight. Apparently, Oma saw this point of the future where Sheppard accidentally awakens all the Wraith at one time, and without Buffy, they would have eventually made it to Earth."

Elizabeth paled as the implications of that one single, yet obviously significant, accident became clear. If she was understanding what Willow was saying, something about Buffy would change an event that happened _after_ the Wraith's awakening that would prevent them from reaching Earth before they were capable of defending it. She started to wonder what decision she could possibly make in the future that would be _worse_ than the awakening itself but, before she could get any further, Dawn interrupted her thoughts.

"Don't worry about it, Dr. Weir." The young woman said. "Whatever it was, there was probably a good reason for it at the time. Or the decision may have been the lesser of two evils. We don't know, and hopefully, we won't. Buffy has changed destiny so many times that we don't even wonder 'what if' anymore."

Elizabeth took a deep breath, smiled gratefully at Dawn and nodded for Willow to continue.

"Okay, when they brought her here, they 'altered' the mystical part of Buffy that made her a Slayer. The Slayer was created to 'sense' creatures that were not natural to this dimension. That part of her is a demonic essence that was infused to make the Slayer. Unfortunately, that isn't what the Wraith are. The Wraith are a naturally evolved hybrid mix of human DNA and this Iratus bug. So, Buffy needed to be 'changed' so that she could sense this natural threat."

"All right. I think I'm following you, but what does that have to do with me?"

"When they 'altered' her, they brought the more primitive instincts of both her human and demonic nature closer to the surface, kinda fusing them together to make a new type of predator. The primitive human instinct will sense any type of threat, but it will flee a superior threat instead of fight. The primitive nature of the demonic essence in Buffy will immediately set out to destroy any and all threats, not matter how weak or how strong. Enhancing those primitive instincts was necessary to get the results that they wanted, but it also enhanced the primitive needs that went along with it. The need to constantly refuel the body due to the faster metabolism, the instinct to defend it's territory and those that it loves, and the need to mate."

Elizabeth's heart began to pound as she began to understand, but she didn't interrupt.

"Now, Slayers have always been affected by these instincts to varying degrees. Faith calls them the 'Double Hs'. Hungries and Hornies. After a particularly bad fight, especially if the enemy escapes, then a Slayer is left with a lot of excess energy that then transmutes into a need for food and sex."

"Hold up a minute, Will." Xander interrupted. "Buffy said that did happen to her."

"No she didn't." Willow responded. "She brushed it aside with something about yogurt."

Dawn suddenly nodded. "That's right. She could go through a case of yogurt in a week. Mom used to buy it for her. She also used to have a friend she used to visit at night after Mom went to bed."

"How do you know?" Xander asked.

"I overheard her on the phone one day making plans with somebody for the weekend when Mom was going to be out of town and I was spending the weekend at Janice's. After Mom left, I snuck back and followed her to this woman's house near the college. One day I saw the woman with Anya and asked her who she was. Anya said her name was Marin."

"I know who that is." Xander's eyes widened. "Anya told me that she was a Succubus. One of the type who liked it a little wild."

"What is a Succubus?" Elizabeth asked nervously.

"Succubae are female demons that feed off of sexual energy." Xander explained. "The more intense the encounter, the more filling the feeding becomes. They usually gravitate towards men, but some have been known to use females. If Buffy was a regular visitor, then this Marin must have been really impressed with the encounter and her stamina."

"Oh?" Now Willow sounded interested, and for some reason, Elizabeth realized that she didn't like that very much.

"Oh, yeah?" Xander replied cheerfully. "The one thing Succubae like more than stamina is a good imagination. Especially that one. She actually asked Anya if she could be in a threesome with us. You know, now that I think about it, I think I remember the weekend you're talking about. Anya wanted Marin to go with her to this day spa, but Marin said that she couldn't. She had 'company'. Usually Marin would ditch whoever it was to hang out, but not that day. When Anya asked who it was, Marin was unusually close-mouthed, said that her friend didn't want to be known."

"Can we get back to this situation, please." Elizabeth said shortly before anymore questions could be asked.

"Sorry." Willow flushed lightly. "The longer a Slayer lives, the more that Slayer evolves. Buffy has been here for almost a hundred years, and even though a lot of that time was in stasis, she evolved as she was created to, but the alterations caused her to evolve in ways that no one expected. Slayers have psychological safeguards that prevent them from turning on humans. Even an accidental killing can cause a mental spiral that, if it isn't immediately treated, can become psychologically damaging. That's what happened to Faith. The alterations to Buffy, however, has evolved to where those fail safes are no longer in effect. If pushed hard enough, Buffy is completely capable of taking human life. If pushed even further, there's no telling what she's capable of. Thanks to the Goddess, there are few things that could push her that far."

"What are those things," Elizabeth asked. "and how do you know?"

"It's the same thing any predator would lash out at." Willow said. "A threat to it's home, a threat to those it protects," Willow looked Elizabeth directly in the eyes. "Or a threat to it's mate."


	19. Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

Elizabeth felt like she had just run into a wall. As much as she wanted to deny it, the steady look in the witch's eyes told her who _she_ thought Buffy's mate was going to be, but she had to be sure. "What are you saying?"

"A little while ago, I told Buffy that at some point, all of her senses might possibly focus on a specific person, especially when she's in the middle of slayer lust. At the time, I didn't think too much about it beyond the initial findings, because I'd never really seen her affected by slayer lust. Or at least I didn't think so. I told her that when that happens, it would most likely be her Slayer side picking a mate."

Elizabeth looked down at her desk as unease slid down her spine. Finally, Dawn had enough of Willow beating around the bush. "For God's sake, Willow, just spit it out!"

Willow glanced over at Dawn for a moment before refocusing on Elizabeth again. She took deep breath and dropped the bombshell. "We think those instincts have focused on Elizabeth."

Elizabeth refused to look up even though she felt the others' eyes on her in shock. She had suspected that was what Willow was leading up to, but hearing it said aloud made it unavoidably real. "What am I looking at here?" She asked quietly.

Willow took her chair around the desk to sit next to the Atlantis Commander, and took her hand in a gesture of comfort. "Like any predator, the Slayer will want to claim you, possibly even mark you in some way. I know Buffy, though. She won't do it if it isn't what you want. If you decide that you don't want this, she will find a way around it, but if you do, you have to be sure. There would be no turning back or changing your mind. It's the Slayer side of her that picked you as 'Mate', so I'm sure that there will be a mystical aspect to it."

After a moment, Elizabeth took a deep breath and said softly, "I need to think about this."

Willow nodded. "That's a wise idea. Be careful though. This is new to Buffy and it's hitting her kinda suddenly. She's normally got really good self control, but this instinct may push her into doing something that she normally wouldn't."

Elizabeth frowned, "Is she dangerous?"

Willow smiled, "Of course she is, just not to you."

- - BtVS - - - SG-1 - - - SG:A - -

Elizabeth looked out over the sparkling blue water. She was in a room high in one of the towers that she and Buffy had discovered on one of their late night forays. At the present, Buffy was orbiting the planet, probably thinking about the same thing she was. An hour ago, an incident in Buffy's quarters had led to a discussion with Willow, Xander and Dawn that revealed a little more of what Buffy Summers was.

She realized that Willow had been describing a 'thinking predator'. The instincts of a wild animal with the sentient understanding of man. Buffy was probably more dangerous than the Wraith.

According to Willow, however, Buffy wasn't a danger to her. When Elizabeth thought about it, she probably wasn't much of a danger to any of them. Willow had said that Buffy would protect her home, and that was obviously the city. She had taken them out when she first awoke, but she hadn't killed anyone.

However, Willow had also hinted at what Buffy was capable of if pushed too far. Immediately, Rodney came to mind. After the first time they had crossed words, he had been treading lightly around the small blonde, but Elizabeth could hear the comments getting increasingly condescending when they spoke. She might have to take him aside and press on him that Buffy is not someone to sharpen his tongue on. So far, she was getting along well with the military men and women, despite her initial feeling and misgivings. She had demonstrated quite clearly that she was more than able to hold her own against the military mindset that insisted they charge headlong into battle, even if they were at a disadvantage.

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she finally turned her mind to the current issue at hand. Thinking or not, Buffy's predator instincts have seemingly decided on her as a mate. From what she knew of wild predators, they mated for life and were extremely possessive. Since they didn't know when, or if, they would ever reach Earth again, she had told her fiancé that it was all right to move on, but she hadn't expected to find another relationship herself, no so soon and especially since she would never consider pursing a relationship with someone under her command. _'But she's not under your command, is she?' _Her inner voice asked. _'It's not like we're breaking any rules, even our own. And we were attracted to her from the beginning, weren't we?'_

"_Hey, Elizabeth, want to go for a ride?"_ Buffy's voice suddenly came through her commlink. _"I think we should talk, don't you? I'll put a failsafe to transport you back to the city if you need it."_

Elizabeth thought about it. They really did need to talk about this, and privately, without anyone else's opinions crowding in. She knew, and she suspected Buffy did as well, that the Scoobies would do whatever possible to keep them apart until Buffy had herself under control. Finally, she touched her earpiece. "All right. Beam me up when you have the failsafe in place."

After a few minutes, Elizabeth found herself looking at the interior of the _Mystery Machine_. Buffy was seated at the pilot's chair and had it turned to face her. She smiled at Elizabeth, then pointed to a console. "Enter in your passcode there, and you'll be all set. I sent a message down to the control room so nobody panicked when they notice that you're gone. Do you want to fly around the water, or go out into orbit?"

"How about you make the ship visible and we just sit on the water outside the Gateroom?" Elizabeth suggested.

"Whatever you want." Buffy issued the commands and soon her were bouncing lightly on the gentle ocean waves. Buffy turned in her chair an indicated the co-pilot's station. "Have a seat." Buffy waited until Elizabeth sat down. "Did Willow talk to you?"

Elizabeth nodded. "She told me a great deal, in fact."

"I'm sorry that this happened." Buffy said, resting her head in her hands. "I didn't mean for any of this. I don't even know how it happened."

Elizabeth placed a comforting hand on the younger girl's shoulder. "From what I understand, it wasn't really something you could control. Instincts aren't something that can be regulated or turned on and off like a switch. The problem we have is that it is an instinct for you, but not for me. I am the Commander of this base, and I have to weigh the pros and cons of any decision I make."

Buffy nodded. "I know that. This is strictly your choice. If you become my mate, then that would be beyond fantastic. If not, then I'll think of something."

Neither of them knew just when Elizabeth's hand moved up to caress Buffy's cheek, or when Buffy moved from her seat to kneel at Elizabeth's feet. All they knew was that one moment, they were talking, and the next, Buffy hands were gripping her waist as she kissed Elizabeth with all the pent up desire inside her. Elizabeth whimpered in the back of her throat as her hands tangled in blonde hair at the sudden heat engulfing her body. At the sound, Buffy realized what she was doing and it took everything she had to draw back from the kiss, growling lightly as Elizabeth's hands unconsciously tightening in her hair to bring her back.

"Elizabeth, what's your passcode?" Buffy asked hoarsely, feeling her control slipping. She ran her tongue teasingly over Elizabeth's ear. "Quickly, honey, tell me what it is."

Elizabeth told her and instantly she found herself back on the balcony where she had been previously. "Oh, God." She groaned as she came out of the daze she found herself in. "This is not good."

"Willow, I'm spending the night on the mainland." Buffy informed her friend as the _Machine_ lifted gracefully from the water. "This thing with Elizabeth is getting out of hand, and I don't want to do anything we'll all regret. I need you to look to check her over with your magical sense. She's on the balcony at the top of the east tower. I think something more than primal urges are drawing us together."

"No problem." Willow answered. "Where is she? Do you want us to spend the night with you?"

"That would be great, Will." Buffy said gratefully. "It'll be like old times."

- - BtVS - - - SG-1 - - - SG:A - -

"Dr. Weir?" Willow said, stepping out onto the balcony. "Buffy asked me to come and check on you."

Elizabeth looked up. She was huddled against the wall with her knees tucked under her chin, looking lost and overwhelmed. Willow's heart went out to the obviously confused woman.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Willow asked softly.

"I don't think I can." Elizabeth replied. "Everything is happening so fast, I can barely wrap my head around it."

Willow sat down next to the Commander as she considered what to say. "I was 16 when I found out that monsters really existed. That all those reports of gangs on PCP and deaths by accidental barbecue forks stabbings were all lies." She began, staring out over the water. "A week later, I found out that our school library, my haven against a world I never really felt welcome in, was sitting on top of a doorway to hell, and that the doorway was going to be opened if my new friend didn't stop it."

Willow shook her head in bemusement, "I remember thinking, how could something like this happen to us. We were just this small town that the rest of California barely knew existed. It was a long time before I realized that big things like that usually happened in smaller places where it would most likely be ignored by the majority of the population, and it's a lot easier to hide in a group that easily recognizes outsiders."

Elizabeth found herself setting her own problem aside as she listened.

"That was nothing compared to what Buffy went through, though. It was almost a year before she trusted me enough to tell me everything. Here was this pretty, Class-A type girl, someone who could get instant access to the popular group, and she befriends me without needing me to do her homework. Then, I find out that her life is something out of a horror movie. She was being forced, against her will, to fight the monsters and guard the doorway. Worse, she finds out that she's going to die doing it. Not she might die, but was destined to die. Needless to say, she quit right then and there. She had already been through _so_ much. She saw her first Watcher killed, the people she saved all denied what she saw when they were questioned and so she was expelled and arrested. Her parents didn't believe her and she was institutionalized. When she recanted and was let out, her parents divorced. Now, she's told that she going to die on her birthday on her sixteenth birthday."

"What happened?" Elizabeth asked almost breathlessly.

"A body was found in the gym locker. Not a very unusual event, mind you, but then a group of vamps attacked the local hangout and bragged that his master, ironically named The Master, was going to break free and open the Hellmouth. Needless to say, we all freaked. So Buffy decided that she had to at least try." Willow finally looked directly at Elizabeth. "I'm not telling you this to say that we understand what you're going through, because we don't. I'm telling you to show you that we ­_do_ understand how things like this can happen so fast that it seems like you can't make sense of it, especially Buffy. That we can help you with, even if it's just to lend an ear. We know how it feels, so let us help you."

"Buffy wanted me to take a look at you." Willow changed the subject. "She wanted to know if there was more to this mating thing than just instincts."

"If that's the case, shouldn't Carson be examining me?" Elizabeth asked.

The corners of Willow's lips curled up in amusement. "Different kind of exam. I can see if there is anything mystical involved."

Elizabeth's eyes widened at the thought. "And if there was?"

"Then I'm sure someone's going to be REALLY sorry when Buffy finds out who." Willow grinned mischievously. "She absolutely hates being manipulated, and won't tolerate it if someone else is also used in the attempt."

Elizabeth thought about that, and understood. "All right. What do I do?"

"Nothing, just relax." Taking a deep breath, Willow closed her eyes reached inside herself so that she could look at Elizabeth with her mystical senses. What she saw and sensed shocked her so much that her eyes popped open and her jaw dropped.

"What is it?" Elizabeth said, unsettled by the response.

"You… You… and Buffy…" Willow couldn't get it out. Finally, taking a breath to calm herself, she pressed her earpiece. "Buffy, you need to get back here right now."

"Willow, you know why I'm out here…" Buffy began.

"Buffy!" Willow interrupted. "You have to get back here NOW! Separation will only cause problems for you, and it definitely won't be comfortable for Elizabeth. I'll tell you why as soon as you get here."


	20. Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

Buffy gripped the armrests of her chair. Elizabeth was sitting right across from her, and it was taking all of her willpower not to leap of table and spread her like a feast. Everything in her was screaming for her mate.

"Buffy, do I need to bind you to that chair?" Willow asked cautiously, obviously seeing her struggle.

"You might." Buffy answered through gritted teeth, as another spike of need roared through her. She could feel something deep inside reaching out for Elizabeth. "Explain this quickly so I can get out of here."

"You can't." Willow shook her head. "You can't be separated for long from her until you've decided to mate or not."

"What are you talking about, Willow?" Buffy growled.

"You asked me to check Dr. Weir because you thought there was something weird going on about your need to mate." Willow began to explain. "Well, it's not what you think. You _are_ mated. In fact, you are the rarest form of mates. I wouldn't even know about it if I hadn't stumbled across the references when I was with the Coven. The every essence of who you are, are reaching out for each other and merging. Goddess, it's the most amazing thing I've ever seen."

"Willow!" Buffy interrupted sharply.

The witch started visibly. "Oh, sorry, Buffy. You're not just mates, you're Bond-mates. According to the legends, three pairs of Bond-mates were created at the beginning of the Universe. One of the pair would be a Guardian, a being possessing great power but always on the thin edge of losing themselves to the duty of the Guardianship. Their mate grounds them to their humanity that could be sacrificed to that duty. The Bonding often evolves into a romantic relationship, but not always." Willow moved to stand behind Elizabeth. "Dr. Weir, will you please pull back your hair?"

Glancing over her shoulder curiously, Elizabeth did as she was asked. Directly over her jugular vein, Buffy could see a faint mark that she knew had not been there before. The moment she saw it, she had the nearly overwhelming urge to sink her teeth into it. Willow touched the skin, making Elizabeth flinch involuntarily, and Buffy growled in warning before she could stop herself.

"This is the mark of a Bond Pair. It appears on the throat of one of the Bond Pair, and over the heart of the other, during the first significant merging of essences. Buffy?"

Raising an eyebrow at her friend, remembering that teacher-mode voice well from their high school days, Buffy slowing unfastened her top to open it enough to reveal a faint mark identical to Elizabeth's appearing over her heart. Out of the corner of her eye, Willow saw Elizabeth's fingers twitch when the mark was revealed, and she nodded in satisfaction at their reactions.

"The marks are reactive to physical touch." Willow informed them. "If either of you were to touch the other's mark, it reacts depending on your relationship. If it is a romantic relationship, it acts like an erogenous zone. If not, it reacted with the warmth of a beloved friend. By anyone other than the mate, the touch is irritating, depending on intent. Someone just brushing the mark in an innocent hug, for instance, would just irritate the mark just enough to be noticeable. Any further intent, especially harmful, would actually cause pain, and it was would call out to your mate. Kind of like a mystical distress call."

"So it doesn't have to be sexual if she doesn't want it to be?" Buffy asked.

Willow's brows rose at the question. From the way she worded it, it was apparent that Buffy was willing. "No, it doesn't. According to the records, you have about a month to decide. You can either accept the mating with the full-fledged relationship, sex and all. Accept the mating without the relationship, merging your essences enough to keep Buffy grounded, but you would still each be giving a part of yourself to your mate, and you would never be able to fully love another. Or you can choose to reject the mating completely. Once you make the decision, though, you can't change your mind."

"What would be the result of rejecting the mating?" Elizabeth asked, alerted by something in Willow's voice.

Willow took a deep breath and finally sat down. "We would eventually loose Buffy to her duty as a Guardian. I think it's already happening, and that's why the mating effects are hitting her so hard. During the fight with The First, she had already started withdrawing from us. The time she spent here resting and recuperating has restored and grounded her for the most part, but it will start to happen again and we won't be able to stop it. She will slowly loose touch with her humanity and exist only for the hunt and the kill."

Elizabeth opened her mouth to ask another question, when an announcement came across the city comm. system. "_Unscheduled Offworld Activation."_

The announcement cut off any further contemplation as they hurried to the Control Room. They saw the shields activate moments before the gate finished dialing and the gate opened, but nothing came through. After a minute, the gate shut down.

"What happened?" Dawn asked.

"I'm not sure." Peter Grodin answered. His fingers were moving rapidly over his keyboard as he tried to figure it out.

"Rodney, Willow, check to make sure nothing was downloaded into the systems." Elizabeth ordered. The scientist and the witch immediately moved off to different stations.

"Hold on a minute." Buffy said suddenly, her finger moving to her temple. "A message was sent to my ship. I'm converting and setting it to decrypt, but it'll take a few minutes." Before anyone could respond, a holographic eyepiece appeared over her left eye.

"Hey, I saw that before." Dawn exclaimed. "What is that?"

"Neural interface." Buffy answered absently. "It keeps me connected to the _Machine_."

"You have _got_ to let me look at that." Rodney demanded.

Buffy ignored him as she watched the message reform. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she looked shell-shocked.

"What's wrong?" Elizabeth asked.

"It's from a friend who I helped train a resistance against the Wraith. His world has been destroyed and culled by the Wraith. They've made him a Runner."

"A resistance?" Elizabeth questioned.

"What's a Runner?" Rodney asked at the same time.

"Yeah, the Satedans decided that they didn't want to be cattle for the Wraith. Ronan befriended me like Teyla's mother did, without question. He asked me to train his squad in hand-to-hand and bladed weapons."

"What did you get out of it?" Xander asked.

"A place that I could call home when I needed it." Buffy told him sadly. "Ronan, his betrothed Melena, and his mother took me in and treated me like family. They gave me an open invite to stay with them any time I needed company."

She finally turned to Rodney. "A Runner is someone whom the Wraith are impressed with as a Warrior. They implant a tracking device, then toss him on some uninhabited planet, sending foot soldiers after him to see how long he can last until they can kill him. I've got to go find him."

She was gone before anyone could respond. Willow, Xander and Dawn glanced at each for a moment, then took off after her.

Elizabeth sighed and touched her commlink. "Buffy, you can't go without back-up. You don't know what you're going to find."

_"I don't need back-up. The Wraith chase Runners for sport. There won't be more than a half dozen foot soldiers on that planet. Maybe one of the Higher Ups, but that's about it. Willow, Dawn and Xander will be more than enough."_

"Well, will you at least take Carson? If your friend has a tracking devise in this body, it has to come out before you return to Atlantis."

_"Fine. Have him meet us in the Gateroom. We'll pick him up on the way out."_

Elizabeth nodded to her assistant, and Grodin contacted Carson with his new assignment. "How do you know where he is?"

_"He put the Gate address in the message. He'll stay there for a few days before moving on. Before you ask, no, I'm still not waiting."_

Since she had her back to the Control Room staff, and no one could see it, Elizabeth rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Very well. We'll see you when you get back."

The _Mystery Machine_ lowered from the roof and beamed Carson aboard with his supplies. The Stargate dialed and opened before Buffy responded. _"We'll talk."_

Then the ship vanished in stealth mode and was gone with a ripple of the wormhole.

- - -BtVS - - SG: Atlantis - - -

They exited the Stargate to endless blue skies and green forest that looked like it had never been inhabited by anything other than the native animals. Buffy immediately directed the _Machine_ over the treetops directly away from the Stargate in a straight path.

"Surface Scan, all directions at maximum range." Buffy commanded the ship. "3D display, only Humanoid and Wraith life signs."

The results of the scan flickered into image. The others gasped and Buffy's eyes narrowed as they watched the 3D image of a man running through the forest, shooting down one Wraith after another as they attacked. There were three times the usual number of hunters here, and Buffy suspected that he had done considerable damage since they first released him. "I hope he's still got his communicator. Open channel to Satedan channel." They heard a chime.

"Hey Razor, having fun?" Buffy said brightly.

"Is that you, Slayer?" A deep voice said, slightly winded. "Damn, it's good to hear your voice. Where are you?"

"About a hundred feet over the treetops." She told him. "I'd beam you up, but the forest is too thick and there are no clearings in the vicinity. You want some help, or should we just wait for you to finish?"

"You know you can't take me anywhere with the tracker in my back." He said.

"Brought a doctor to take it out." She responded off-handedly. "Can you circle around and head back towards the gate? You know they're boxing you in."

"I can't. I've been trying for the last two days, but they keep cutting me off."

Buffy thought quickly. "All right, I'm coming down. I'm dropping into the trees above you."

"Buffy, what are you about to do?" Willow asked warily.

Buffy had a wild, reckless look in her eyes when she grinned at her friend. "I'm going to brush off those old gymnastic skills." She set the ship on a course to intercept with the Runner. She flew low enough to brush the treetops with the underbelly of the _Machine, _then ran over to where the door was opening. "The ship is going to go back to the gate. You can get off there and head for us, or you can wait for us. We'll be there in a couple of hours."

"Wait a minute, Buffy." Xander began, but she had already jumped out.


	21. Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

For a timeless moment, Buffy reveled in the sheer joy of the free-fall, before she reached to grab a passing tree limb. With smooth moves reminiscent of her days as a cheerleader and gymnast, she swung from limb to limb, tree to tree, until she dropped soundlessly to the ground just a few feet from the rearguard. Pulling her sword from her coat, she launched herself and the closest Wraith and had cut down several before they could gather themselves to retaliate.

"Razor, I'm coming in from the south." Buffy reported, hearing the sounds of shooting and bodies hitting the ground.

"Gotcha." Her friend answered.

Suddenly, one of the Wraith in front of her was knocked off its feet, while another sprouted a crossbow bolt from its throat and a third burst into flames.

"You just couldn't wait a few minutes, could you?" Willow snapped as she and Dawn ran up next to her. "I could have teleported us all down without all the aerobatics."

"Don't knock it until you try it." Buffy grinned at her. "Free-falling is awesome. Where's Xander?"

"He's practicing his marksmanship." Dawn answered, pointed upwards with her thumb. "He had Willow drop him in a tree."

Listening carefully, Buffy heard the faint rustling of tree leaves in a tree about a hundred yards in between her position and Ronan's. She heard a faint pop and, a moment later, the thud of another body hitting the ground. "All right, then. Let's go."

They worked their way through the Wraith, with Xander picking off the stragglers that tried to approach from their blind sides. Willow and Dawn concentrated on protecting Buffy whenever she found herself facing one of the Wraith lieutenants. When she could no longer hear Ronan's weapon being fired, Buffy hailed him again.

"How are you doing, Ronan?" She demanded.

"Kind of busy now, Slayer." He grunted, and Buffy could hear the faint sound of weapons fire. "Dropped my pack, and I used up the energy cells that I had on me. I'm pinned down."

"Shit!" Buffy cursed. "Xander, can you give him a hand?"

"You got it, Buff."

Darkness had fallen by the time they had taken out all of the Wraith. The Scoobies found the exhausted Sadetan warrior catching his breath behind a fallen tree. He was a tall man with dark skin and long dreadlocks. To Dawn, he looked like that Hawaiian model, Jason Mamoa. A sharply arched eyebrow rose when he saw the girls next to Buffy, but he automatically raised his empty weapon when Xander joined them a few minutes later.

"Friends of yours, I hope." He said by way of a belated greeting.

"This is Willow, Xander and my sister Dawn." Buffy smiled happily. "Guys, this is Ronan Dex, my adopted brother."

"Adopted?" Willow and Xander exclaimed.

"Brother?" Dawn gasped at the same time. "You... I... We have a brother?"

"Where are you holed up, Razor?" Buffy asked after laughing at their reactions. She hadn't felt this happy in a long time. Ronan's family had been there when she needed, but it was nothing like having her own family around her again. "We're not heading back to the _Machine_ tonight."

"Nowhere in particular." He told her. "I usually just climb the tallest tree I can find and rest out of possible firing range in case they find me."

"Well, there are no more Wraith in the vicinity, and I'll know if more show up." Buffy assured him. "So let's make a fire and camp out here for the night."

- - - BtVS - - SG: Atlantis - - -

The next morning, it was a solemn group that headed back to Buffy's ship. Buffy and Ronan had stayed up late, talking about the destruction of Sadeta. Buffy cried at the thought of never seeing Melena or Ronan's mother, Ezmi, again. Those feelings of loss were joined by fury and guilt when Ronan told her that the Wraith had recognized her hand-to-hand fighting technique in Ronan's unit, and had tortured them for information. Although all of the men and women had known her personally, only Ronan had known that she was the Wraith Slayer. She had taught him, and he, in turn, had trained the others. Because of that, he had been made a Runner instead of being killed along with everyone else.

"What do we do now, Buffy?" Willow asked as they walked.

"First, we get rid of that tracking device." Buffy said. "I called Dr. Beckett before we left, so he should be ready when we get there. While he's doing that, I guess I'd better call back to Atlantis and let them know what's happening before they send reinforcements."

They fell into a comfortable silence, enjoying the peace around them. When they arrived at the ship, they found the doctor ready for his impromptu surgery with a makeshift table for Ronan to lie on that had a small side table for his tools. Dawn volunteered to stay with Ronan while the others went to report in to Atlantis.

Buffy dialed the Atlantis address and waited for the gate to open. "Buffy to Dr. Weir."

"Go ahead, Buffy." Elizabeth said, nearly shaking in relief. "What's your status?"

"Everyone's fine." Buffy informed her. "We found Ronan and took out all the Wraith that were down here. There were quite a lot of Wraith down here for one Runner, so I want to check orbit for a hive ship while the doc is working."

They talked for a few minutes more before Buffy disengaged the wormhole and turned to her friends. "Okay, who's going with me and who's staying here?"

- - - BtVS - - SG: Atlantis - - -

After the communiqué with Buffy ended and the gate shut down, Elizabeth retreated to her office to think, closing the door behind her, a clear indication that she was not to be disturbed unless it was an emergency.

Dropping down into her chair, she leaned back, trying to put order to her chaotic thoughts. She was a part of an almost celestial bond-pair. According to Willow, Buffy needed her more than she had ever needed anyone or anything. She sheer magnitude of that thought was unnerving. This was so far beyond her experience that she didn't even know where to start thinking about it. She knew, from Buffy's words and reactions, that the blonde wanted the whole relationship, sex and all. She also knew, however, that Buffy would settle for whatever Elizabeth was willing to give her. Even nothing, regardless of the consequences. She wished that there was someone she could speak to about this, someone not involved and completely biased.

Rejecting the mating completely was out of the question, she immediately decided. There was no way she could let that light in the Slayer's eyes to fade into the bleak nothingness if she could do anything about it, but did she want the relationship to be platonic, or did she want something more. She admitted to herself that she was attracted to Buffy, drawn to her in some indefinable way. Even if it was part of the bond between them, she was wise enough to know that it made no difference. The magnitude of their attraction wouldn't be possible, mystically or otherwise, if there hadn't been something there to begin with.

She sighed and turned her chair to stare blankly at the wall. _Did she want this mating? How would it affect her life?_ Willow had told her that even a partial mating would mean that she would not be able to fully connect with another. On the other hand, she had known when she accepted the mission that it was unlikely that she would return, and she knew that ethics forbade her having a relationship with anyone under her command. _If she accepted it, how would it affect her command?_ A good question, she realized. She knew instinctively that she would automatically become Buffy's first concern. That she would sacrifice everyone in Atlantis to save her, but she didn't have that luxury. These people relied on her to put them first, and she couldn't, with good conscience, jeopardize that. _All of that would be the same with the partial mating as well, wouldn't it?_ Her inner voice chimed in. _The real question here is, what do __**you**__ want?_

That, she realized, was the real dilemma. She wanted Buffy, but as a mate? She had not planned on any type of relationship when she accepted this assignment., and had not considered a relationship with a woman at all. She had to admit, however, that in the last few days, she felt more for Buffy than she had in any previous relationship that she'd ever had. Vaguely, she wondered if the connection between them had something to do with that, then dismissed it as unimportant.

_This might be you last chance for a relationship of any kind._ Her inner voice warned. _Even if we do find a way back to Earth, would you go back, and leave the Atlantis program, to have a life with Simon. Even if he knew about the program, what would be the odds of him wanting to leave his family and everything he knows to live across the galaxy. You know him. He wouldn't do it, not even for you. So it's either spend you life with Buffy, or spend you life alone._

Put that way, she realized, what was there really to consider?


	22. Chapter TwentyOne

Chapter Twenty-One

"Honey, we're ho..."

The announcement was cut off and interrupted by another voice, this one noticeably interrupted. "That's it, Xander. You're not getting another headset!"

The control room crew chuckled. They liked Willow and Xander. Willow was unlike any genius they'd ever worked with, not only able to understand their work effortlessly, but also able to talk to them on a personal level that Rodney McKay just wasn't capable of. Everyone liked Xander. He had an uncanny ability to say the funniest thing at just the right time. He was also able to throw McKay off kilter with little difficulty, often sending the head scientist off in frustrated irritation that left the crew amused for hours.

Elizabeth, John and Teyla met Buffy and the Scoobies in the hanger, watching as the _Mystery Machine_ disappeared into it's docking bay. The moment the doors opened, Xander jumped out at a full run with Willow chasing after him.

"Hey, Doc." Xander said as he sped by. "Sheppard, catch ya later. Halo 2 in my quarters."

"You know it." Sheppard shouted back before he was gone. Seeing the look on Elizabeth's face, he shrugged. "What?"

"Don't bother, Elizabeth." Buffy said, strolling off the ship, followed by Dawn and a tall, dark-skinned man in leathers and dreadlocks. "If he's anything like Xander, then he's already hopeless. Elizabeth, Sheppard, Teyla, this is Ronan Dex. Ronan, this is John Sheppard, in charge of the military complement here, Teyla Emmagen, leader of the Athosians, and Elizabeth Weir, commander of the base."

"Hey." He greeted them in a deep, cautious voice.

"Aye, well, we need to get you to the infirmary." Carson said, exiting the ship behind them. "Get you examined and those wounds properly attended to."

"I'm fine." He said.

"Humor him, Ronan." Buffy ordered. She hadn't taken her eyes off of Elizabeth. Now that she was back behind safe walls, her guard relaxed and her body began to burn at the sight and scent of her mate. "You've been on the run for I don't know how long, and I want to make sure you're all right. Besides, he'll want a base work-up for when you get injured. While you're doing that, I'll see if I can get Elizabeth to issue you quarters in the Scooby corridor. When you're done, find me, and I'll give you a tour."

"Slayer..." Ronan began.

"Do it, Ronan." Buffy interrupted in a hard voice, then she smiled slightly. "Or I won't spar with you."

The big man's eyes actually widened, then he growled. "Damn it!" He grabbed Carson by the collar and pushed him ahead. "C'mon, let's go."

Sheppard watched them leave with a grin. "I like him."

When no one responded, Sheppard turned back to the others, to see Buffy and Elizabeth staring at each other intently and ignoring everything else around them. Teyla was watching them with interest, sensing that she was seeing something important.

"Hey, are you two okay?" Sheppard asked, waving a hand in front of Elizabeth's face and causing her to stiffen in surprise.

Teyla's brow rose as Buffy's lip curled in a snarl behind Sheppard's back. She started to take a step forward when Elizabeth glanced at her before returning her attention to Sheppard. When she spoke, Teyla could tell that it was directed at them both. "I'm fine. I would like to speak with Buffy in private. We will meet in the conference room in a half an hour."

Teyla nodded and left. Sheppard looked back and forth between them for a moment, aware of the tenseness suddenly radiating from the blonde, but finally left as well. The moment he was out of the room, Buffy had Elizabeth in her arms and was kissing her hungrily. Caught by surprise, Elizabeth couldn't control her response and, with a low moan, her mouth opened to the insistent tongue begging for entrance. She'd always had a weakness for a strong lover. She felt Buffy's hand shift down to cup her ass and press their bodies closer, and almost became light-headed as a wave of need swamped her. In a swift move, Buffy had her braced up against the wall, her hands holding the the brunette's wrists against the smooth surface, as she used her knee to separate Elizabeth's thighs and step between them. So intent was she focused that Buffy didn't hear the doors open again.

"Elizabeth, I mean to tell you earlier..." Sheppard's voice broke through as he rounded the corner. "What the hell! Let her go!"

Thinking that Buffy was attacking his commander, Sheppard tackled the blonde and knocked her to the ground, jumping up immediately and standing in front of Elizabeth protectively, pushing her behind him. His shoving them apart made the back of Elizabeth's head hit the wall hard. Buffy rolled through the attack until she was back on her feet and instantly swung to face her attacker, growling in fury. Her every thought was swamped with need for her mate, and this _male_ was trying to keep them apart. Worse, he had hurt her mate in the process. She was going to kill him.

Everything had happened so fast that Elizabeth was still propped against the wall, trying to think past the need pounding through her and the stars in her vision from the contact with the wall. She shook her head to clear it, but before she could react, Buffy lashed out, moving so fast that he had no time to defend himself, and Sheppard found himself flying back out of the hanger bay to slam hard into the railing. It felt like he'd been hit by a brick wall. Before he could get back to his feet, Buffy had one knee in his chest and her hand closed around his throat in an iron grip. The glare in her eyes was like the first time he'd seen her.

In her quarters, helping Dawn with her classwork assignment, Willow stiffened and jumped to her feet, disappearing from the room before Dawn or Xander could even question her.

"Separate!" She yelled as soon as she reappeared next to the struggling combatants. Buffy flew backwards to land at Elizabeth's feet. "Elizabeth, grab her!"

Buffy was on her feet again and about to attack them both when strong arms wrapped around her from behind. She froze, torn between the desire to remain in her mate's hold and the need to eliminate the male trying to keep them apart. She heard Willow's whispered words right before they disappeared. After a moment, she calmed long enough to hear Elizabeth mutter nonsense words into the back of her head. Her voice was shaky and the arms around her were trembling slightly. Suddenly, she realized what she had been about to do.

"Oh, God." Her legs went weak and she dropped to her knees, dragging Elizabeth with her. "I almost killed him. Ohgodohgodohgod."

Elizabeth instinctively tightened her hold when Buffy tried to pull away. Somehow she just knew that if she let Buffy withdraw now, she'd run and keep running, no matter the cost to herself. She simply held the slayer as she cried. When the tears finally stopped, she kissed the top of Buffy's head and ducked down to look her in the eye. "Come on, take me for a ride. We still need to talk."

Soon, they were drifting in the planet's outer orbit.

"Buffy, what just happened?" Elizabeth asked.

"I don't know." Buffy said weakly, on the verge of tears once again. "All I could think was that he was keeping us apart, and that he hurt you. I could feel your pain, and all I wanted to do was kill him. I'm not supposed to be feeling your pain, Elizabeth, but I did, and I-I just snapped."

- - - BtVS - - SG: Atlantis - - -

"What happened to you?" Ronan asked Sheppard after Willow stepped away from the bed.

"Buffy attacked me." Sheppard growled hoarsely. The imprints of her fingers were clear on this throat.

Ronan's brow rose. "She wouldn't do that to a human unless they attacked her first. What did you do?"

"I tackled her." He admitted. "She was forcing herself on Elizabeth and I tried to stop her."

Ronan started laughing, making everyone glance over curiously. "Buffy has never forced herself on anyone. Did you actually see the woman struggling?"

Sheppard scowled, but Ronan continued. "You're talking about the commander, right?" Sheppard nodded. "The one who was staring at the Slayer like she wanted to drag her back into the ship and fuck her brains out?"

Sheppard stared at Ronan in shock. "What?"

"If those two aren't sleeping together already, then they will be soon." The Satedan shrugged, then stopped talking as Carson came back to where they were, trusty clipboard in hand. After a moment, Carson left them alone again. "Bit of advice. If she worked you over that bad, you should probably avoid her for a day or two, and next time, unless you actually _see_ someone struggling and fighting, stay out of it."


	23. Chapter TwentyTwo

Chapter Twenty-Two

"Goddess, Buffy, things really are never easy with you, are they?" A flash of light brought a softly smiling Tara into the small ship, appearing next to Buffy to smooth a lock of hair behind the smaller blonde in comfort. "Things were not supposed to progress like this. Only you, sweetie."

"Tara?" Buffy looked up at her friend with fresh tears.

"We didn't know that you were a Guardian, Buffy, but Goddess, looking back, it explains so much." The Ascended witch sighed as she sat down. "You seem to have slipped through more than one crack. When the current Guardians are ready to pass on their Duty, Guides are sent to their replacements to help them acclimate to their new calling. Oma and I have been looking into it ever since Willow discovered that you are a Guardian, because you still do not register as one. The reason you are acting so erratically is because your essences are already merging at a level that should not be possible yet. You've needed grounding for so long that you reached out to her the moment your subconscious recognized her as your mate."

Elizabeth started in surprise. "What does that mean?"

Tara turned slightly to look her in the eye. "It means that whether you accept the physical aspect of the mating or not, Buffy is already bonded to you. Rejecting it completely is no longer an option."

For a moment, Buffy looked guilty, until Elizabeth's quick acknowledgement. "I wasn't going to, regardless."

"So, you have made your decision?" Tara asked gently.

"I have." Elizabeth nodded, looking over at the Slayer, who was watching her in wary hope. "I've decided to accept the mating, and everything that goes with it."

"Are you sure, Elizabeth?" Buffy asked. "If you don't want this, please tell me. I will find a way to fix it, and figure something else out."

Before Elizabeth could answer, a light flashed and they were joined by another woman. "I think I've found it."

"Buffy, Elizabeth, this is Oma Desala." Tara said before the woman could begin. Oma was unused to dealing with normal mortals, other than Daniel, and often forgot to introduce herself.

Oma smiled at them and nodded, then continued her explanation. "It seems that the last Guardian passed on the mantle mere moments before you sacrificed yourself for your sister. You activated right before you jumped. Your body had not yet acclimated to the power, or you would not have died. Your resurrection was only possible because you are a Guardian. Your body was repairing itself, and you would have returned to it eventually, although perhaps not so traumatically."

'_Colonel Sheppard's going to be okay.' _Willow's voice suddenly announced over the communications system. _'He's going to be all right. He's just got a few cracked ribs.'_

Buffy and Elizabeth looked at each other in relief before Buffy opened a channel. "Come on up, Will. Tara and her PiC are here with info too. Bring Dawn and Xander with you."

A few minutes later, the Scoobies appeared in the ship. Willow wasted no time wrapping her late girlfriend in a fierce hug and kissing her witless. She didn't care if Tara was now an ascended being or higher power or whatever. All she knew was that the one true love of her life was here. She might not exactly be alive, but she was there. Touchable, huggable and kissable.

"Well, gee, Wills, it's a good thing we didn't come up here for any specific reason." Dawn snarked.

"Mm hmm." Was Willow's only response as she focused all of her considerable concentration on what could be her last Tara-kiss. After a long minute, to the vast amusement of everyone watching, Willow finally came up for air. She set her forehead against the blonde's as she whispered, "I am so, so sorry, baby."

"I missed you, Willow." Tara responded just as softly, her voice so full of love that the others finally had to turn away to give them some privacy.

"So, Buffster," Xander began, turning his back on the intimate scene. "I heard that you beat down Sheppard. What's up with that?"

"That's actually what we're up here to talk about." Buffy flushed and looked away. Elizabeth reached out and squeezed her hand in comfort. "Tara says that I've needed her so bad, that I've already begun bonding with Elizabeth. When Sheppard got between us, and accidentally knocked Elizabeth into the wall, I reacted instinctively. It's just like Willow explained to us before. He hurt her, and I wanted his blood."

- - - BtVS - - SG: Atlantis - - -

"Thanks, guys." Willow said when they finally rejoined the others. She appreciated their efforts to give them 'some' privacy. "I guess we should probably get started, though, huh."

"What revelations have ya got for us, Tara?" Xander asked.

"Well, Buffy has inadvertently begun the mating process with Elizabeth." Tara told them. "She activated as a Guardian right before she died. It's the only reason we were able to bring her back in the first place. She would have come back eventually, once her body had repaired itself."

"So, was I really in Heaven?" Buffy asked.

"I don't know, sweetie." Tara told her. "I ascended when I died, so I've never been to Heaven."

"At the rate you are going," Oma interjected. "You will be completely merged very soon. I am surprised that you have not felt the need to consummate."

Elizabeth and Buffy blushed, both thinking about what would possibly have happened in the hanger if they hadn't been interrupted. Both Willow and Tara recognized the expressions on their faces, having been interrupted making out on numerous occasions and having to suffer Anya's remarks.

"What will happen to Elizabeth?" Buffy asked.

"Nothing other than an extended lifespan." Tara reassured her. "Elizabeth will not be harmed or changed in any way because of the mating. She will always know where you are and how you are, and you will always be her number one priority, but that is how a mating should be.

Buffy turned her seat to face Elizabeth. "Are you okay with this?"

"We need to take the time to really talk about this, but yes, I think I am." Elizabeth answered after a moment. "I have decided that I want to mate with you, and I'm not going to take that back, but we do need to talk about how it will affect the base and my command."

Buffy went down her knees in from of her mate. "I would never do anything to compromise your command, Elizabeth, please believe that. No unless it put you directly in harm's way. I know these systems better than anyone you could bring here. I've spent decades learning them. If they remove you from command, I'll lock everyone out, and no one will get to use this city. I'll accept no other commander but you."

"Okay, now that the important stuff is taken care of," Xander spoke up, interrupting them before they started something he didn't need to see. "My question is, what, exactly, is a Guardian?"

- - - BtVS - - SG: Atlantis - - -

For those that don't know… PiC means Partner in Crime


	24. Chapter TwentyThree

Chapter Twenty-Three

Tara took a moment to think of the best way to explain it. "A Guardian is sort of a Champion on a 'universal' scale. Instead of protecting a specific people, like humans, they guard the interests of the Universe herself. I believe that you are the first human to become a Guardian. Very few humans are ever born with the capacity of self-sacrifice and value of life that it takes to become a Guardian."

"Are you telling me that I'm back under the PTB's thumb?" Buffy asked warily. "I thought I was finished with them."

"No, you are beyond them." Tara reassured her. "If what I suspect is even close to the truth, the Universe manipulated Oma into coming to me, all in order to get you here, where the biggest threat is."

"Why not against the Goa'uld?" Elizabeth asked.

"The Goa'uld aren't as much of a threat as you think they are." Tara told them. "They're like vamps. They are also more interested in enslavement than annihilation. They're bigger, stronger and outnumber us, but their arrogance and in-fighting give their enemies all the advantages necessary to keep them in line, or eventually defeat them completely. The Wraith, however, have advantages that humans can't defend against. At least, not yet. Bullets barely slow them down, they not only regenerate, but they can regrow severed limbs. Also, their in-fighting is so negligible, that it doesn't even matter. They'd rather work towards the common goal, which is getting to Earth, a planet with an almost unlimited food supply. If they reach Earth now, before we can figure out a way to do serious damage, we're going to lose."

Willow suddenly understood, looking at it from the larger scale. "If they manage to take Earth, they'll continue to grow and eventually overwhelm the universe in sheer numbers."

"Precisely." Tara nodded. "Buffy needed to be here to prevent a small, almost minor action that will, in turn, result in the Wraith finding Earth before humans are ready." She quickly turned to Elizabeth. "What Dawn told you was correct. The decision wasn't made without a lot of consideration, and it was the best choice from the ones that you had, but the whole situation came about because of events that 'could' have been prevented. I don't tell you this to make you doubt the choices that you will make in the future, but Buffy will draw certain lines that she will not allow you to cross. One of those lines will affect the change needed to keep the Wraith from Earth before humans are ready."

"You say this as if it is a foregone conclusion that the Wraith will reach Earth." Elizabeth frowned.

Tara gave her a sad smile. "That was, unfortunately, never in question. If it had not been you, then it would have been others. Sooner or later, humans from Earth would have reached the Pegasus Galaxy, and at some point after that, humans and the Wraith would have crossed paths."

"How can you be so sure?"

"We have seen it." Tara said, referring to the Ascended. "The Aschen were correct in some parts. In the future, Humans _will_ have to migrate off of Earth because of the population alone. Now that space has been reached, how long do you think it will be before personal spacecrafts are invented. Once that happens, humans will travel further and further from Earth, and eventually, someone will reach a Wraith-infested planet. It is inevitable."

Elizabeth considered that, recalled what she had read of the mission reports of the encounter with the Aschen, as well as the reference to the mysterious note. She sighed heavily, realizing that if what Tara said was true about the future population growth, and there was no reason not to believe that she was, then it _was_ inevitable. As clearly evidenced by the SGC, once people got off the planet they would scatter far and wide if for no other reason than to see what was out there.

"What can we do?"

"Do as you have been doing." Oma answered. "Live your lives and base your decisions as as best you can, with the information that you have. That truly is all that you_ can_ do. We cannot tell you the answers, because if we did, there is a risk that the outcome would be worse than it is now."

"What's the difference between Champions and Guardians?" Xander asked. "There are lots of Champions on Earth. You mean none of them were capable of being a Guardian."

"The difference is that, in the end, one life is as important as a million." Tara answered, turning her head to look at the brunette plastered to her side. "Another Champion would have done as Giles suggested, and killed Dawnie to nullify the Key of Dimensions." She caressed her beloved's jaw. "They would have killed a grief stricken witch immediately after her first murder instead of trying time after time to get through to her before she destroyed the world." She looked at Xander again. "They would have destroyed a former demon for returning to her evil ways instead of giving them the chance to become human again. They would have done these things because that is what would be 'safer' for the multitude, without taking into account the individual."

"From the beginning, even as she fought her destiny with everything she had, she always tried to make sure that the 'individual' got what they deserved, and nothing more." Oma continued. "She did not blindly accept the teachings that 'all' demons should be destroyed. Her dedication to life was not limited to humans alone."

Deciding that the conversation was finished, Oma left them. Tara, however, stayed a little longer, not speaking, just basking in the love and presence of her family before she had to go. Dawn had spent the majority of the conversation glued to her mother-figure's side. Now, the young woman tightened her grip around her waist, knowing that she would be leaving soon, and that there was no guarantee that she would be able to visit them again.

Elizabeth sat quietly as the Scoobies gathered around their Ascended friend. There were tearful goodbyes that she knew they hadn't had when the blonde had tragically died. A tearful Willow took an equally tearful Xander and Dawn back down to the city not long after Tara finally vanished in a flash of warm light. Buffy knelt in from of the commander and laid her head down in Elizabeth's lap.

"Are you all right?" Elizabeth asked, tangling her fingers in Buffy's hair.

"I think so." Buffy sighed. "I guess being a Guardian can't be much different than being a Slayer."

Elizabeth cupped her chin and coaxed her face up so that she could look Buffy in the eyes. "Whatever happens, I'll be right beside you."

She ducked her head and kissed the Guardian softly. Buffy moaned as the heat and need quickly flared between them, and she pushed herself up to deepen the kiss hungrily. Before Elizabeth knew what was happening, strong hands wrapped around her thighs and pulled her off the seat to sit on Buffy's bent legs. With her hands cupping her ass, Buffy pulled Elizabeth flush against her body, shivering at the heat being generated between them. When Buffy pulled her top out of her trousers and slipped her hands underneath, Elizabeth knew that she had to stop her.

She broke the kiss and rested her head against Buffy's, panting harshly as Buffy continued to lick at her lips. Each flick of her soon-to-be lover's tongue made her body clench in need. "Buffy..."

She broke off with a gasp as Buffy cupped her breasts. Buffy took the opportunity to capture her mouth in another searing kiss that nearly sent her right over the edge. She groan and her sex spasmed when Buffy pinched her nipples, the sharp pain shoot straight to her clit.

_'Beckett to Dr. Weir.'_

Elizabeth gave a strangled moan as she torn her mouth away. She didn't know whether to be pissed or thankful at the interruption. She was ready for Buffy to lay her out on the floor of this ship and take her hard. Panting harshly, she pulled Buffy's hands from beneath her shirt before clearing her throat and activating her comm link.

"Yes, Carson?"

"I've finished examining Ronan and Colonel Sheppard does not seem to be too badly hurt." Carson reported. "However, he refused to tell me how he became injured."

She could hear the question in his voice, but decided that if John didn't want to tell, it wasn't her place to break his confidence. "I'm sure he has his reasons. If it was a danger to the city, he would say so."

"Very well." Carson accepted. "Well, I've released them both. Major Sheppard has returned to duty, and Dawn came to get Ronan to show him around. She said something about how how cool it was to have a big brother. The poor man looked positively shell-shocked."

Buffy grinned. She had told Ronan about her sister, but neither of them had ever thought that he'd ever have the chance to meet her. She clicked her mic off and ran her fingers through silky blonde hair. Buffy's eyes closed and her head tilted back in pleasure as nails scraped over her scalp. "Where do we go from here?"

"Dinner dates and making out?" Buffy said hopefully.

Elizabeth chuckled. Buffy wrapped her arms around the trim waist and hugged her new mate close. "I don't know how long this thing between us is gonna let us take it slow, but I say we make the most of it. Take you to dinner, or someplace special."

"Isn't that what we've been doing for the last few weeks?" Elizabeth asked with a smile.

It was true. Most nights, Elizabeth stayed up with Buffy as her body worked its way through her insomnia. They talked, took the _Machine_ out into orbit to just float in the stars or just set her down on the water to bounce with the waves. If they looked at it that why, they'd been dating for a while already.

"So now what?" Buffy asked.

"Well, I liked your first idea." Elizabeth's eyes twinkled playfully. "Dinner dates and making out sounds just right."

She pulled Buffy into another kiss, this time keeping firm control and not allowing it to flare out of control as it had before.


	25. Chapter TwentyFour

**A/N: These next few chapters are in direct relation to Stargate Altantis Episodes "The Storm" & "The Eye". A two-part episode where Atlantis is threatened by a superstorm.**

Chapter Twenty-Four

Over the next few weeks, the Atlantis crew settled into a relatively simple routine, not all that different from Stargate Command. The teams traveled through the Stargate based on information from Teyla, Ronan, Buffy and the Atlantis database. They gathered what information they could about the Wraith, made trade agreements for almost everything except for weapons and technology too advanced for the culture. Buffy continued to 'cull' the Wraith as she received her visions, and occasionally even allowed the other SG teams to join her as she got them trained to her standards.

The only real problem that they had encountered out there, other than the Wraith, were a group called the Genii. The seemingly simple village of farmers had turned out to be a covert paramilitary group blindly dedicated to destroying the Wraith at any and all costs. In the spirit of forging an alliance, Sheppard and his team had helped the Genii complete a working prototype for a bomb against the Wraith, but there were complications when the Genii turned on them and tried to steal their C-4 after a joint information gathering missing.

Her budding relationship with Elizabeth was progressing steadily as well. Buffy proved her improvisation skills when it came to taking her future mate on 'dates'. From watching the sun set from the top of one of the city's towers to going out into orbit to watch a comet pass by the planet. Having finally learned to cook during her time in Atlantis, Buffy even invited the Atlantis Commander to her quarters for dinner.

The only problems on that front had been Rodney McKay, John Sheppard and, for a blessedly brief moment, Xander. In Xander's case, however, he had been more jealous of Ronan than he had been of Elizabeth. It took him a while to get used to the fact that there was another 'brother' figure in Buffy's life, but their dedication to the girls soon had them bonding as closely as brothers themselves.

Buffy could tell that most of Sheppard's issues stemmed from jealousy as well. Every time he was near Elizabeth, Buffy could smell his arousal. Sometimes, it took all of her control not to beat him into the ground, but as long as he kept his hands and his thoughts to himself, she kept her control.

It was McKay that was the real problem. He had never really forgotten or forgiven how Buffy had ripped his pride and ego to shreds with aloof ease. He couldn't stand how she casually overlooked his brilliance for her little friend's, and they butted headed almost every time they encountered each other. Their last confrontation had ended with her threatening to throw him into the ocean.

At the moment, Buffy was sitting almost relaxed in her seat on the _Mystery Machine_, giving Dawn a flying lesson. Or rather, Dawn was pretty much just practicing, having picked up the basics with astonishing ease, and Buffy was reminiscing over last night's dinner date with her mate. She didn't remember what she cooked, or even if it was any good. All she could think about was the feel of Elizabeth in her arms as they slow danced to the music of one of the many cultures that she encountered in her time there.

"Hey, Buffy, what's that?" Dawn's voice broke into her thoughts.

Buffy looked over where Dawn was pointing, saw the dark roiling clouds and lightening strikes and shot straight up in her chair so fast that her sister squeaked in surprise. "Oh, shit." Commandeering the controls, she angled the _Machine_ to go higher.

"Buffy, what's wrong?" Dawn demanded, a little worried at her reaction.

"Let me make sure before I freak everyone out." She said, keying in commands as quickly as she could.

Before Dawn could ask another question, a 3-D view of the planet shimmered into view. Her eyes widened as both Atlantis and the landmass where the new Athosian village had been built appeared. Then her mouth dropped open in shock at the obvious storm brewing not far off the opposite shore of the island. Last, but not least, a miniature Puddlejumper appeared heading away from the island back towards the city.

"Wow, Buffy," Dawn goggled, momentarily forgetting why the image had been generated in the first place. "This is sooo cool!"

"_Mystery Machine_ to Puddlejumper, come in." Buffy radioed, ignoring her sister for the moment.

_'Buf...You're bre...up.'_

Buffy could barely understand him through the static, but she recognized Sheppard's voice. Her fingers began flying over the controls once again. "Let's try boosting the signal." She muttered to herself. Dawn watched quietly as she worked, then mentally crossed her fingers when she tried again. "Sheppard, are you reading me now?"

_'Barely.'_ Sheppard answered. His voice sounded garbly among all the static. _'There's a big storm headed right for the mainland, then onto the city. We need to get back to Atlantis.'_

"You're closer to the city than I am. Call ahead and send some 'Jumpers to evacuate the Athosians. This storm is going to get really bad, and simply 'battening down the hatches' isn't gonna cut it."

_'My people have survived such storms before.'_ Teyla protested.

"Not like this one, they haven't." Buffy told her. "This thing makes Hurricane Andrew look like a spring shower.

_'I do not understand.'_

Dawn, as usual, picked up on what Buffy was saying almost immediately. "Hurricane Andrew was the worst storm to hit the US that Buffy knows about."

_'That's not good.'_ Sheppard commented. _'Let me make that call.'_

"Was there one worse?" Buffy asked her sister after the Colonel cut their connection. She turned the ship back towards Atlantis as Dawn told her about Hurricane Katrina. Buffy's heart hurt at the destruction and the loss of life.

When they reached the city, Elizabeth already had the others gathered in the conference room. Dr. Zelenka was also included in the meeting. As soon as Buffy and Dawn took their seats, the meeting began. "All right, people, tell me about this storm."

"It happens every twenty, maybe thirty years." Buffy answered. "I've only been awake for it once. I don't know where it begins, but by the time it gets here, it's really bad."

"Are we in danger?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yes." Willow and McKay answered simultaneously. Glaring at Willow, who shrugged, Rodney continued. "The Ancients were either protected by the shields or submerged down to the ocean floor whenever the storm struck. While the shields are practically impenetrable, but the city itself is just a building. Without those shields, that storm will tear the place apart. Whatever isn't destroyed will flood, forcing the city back beneath water level."

"Are you telling me that after everything we've been through, the city is going to be destroyed anyway?"

This time, it was Willow who answered. "Unfortunately, that's exactly what we're saying."

"How long do we have?" Elizabeth asked in resignation.

"By our calculation, at the rate the storm is progressing, I'd say about twelve hours." McKay answered quietly.

After that grim meeting, they turned their focus to making evacuation plans. As Willow and Rodney worked with Zelenka to try to find a way to avoid the oncoming catastrophe, the rest of their respective teams went through the Stargate trying to find a safe haven in case they were not successful. The rest of the Atlantis team worked quickly and efficiently to repack their equipment for immediate transport. It was Sheppard that made a successful deal with one of the village that his team had previously visited. He reported to Elizabeth that he had promised future protection in return for safe haven, but only for a few days.

Elizabeth decided that it would have to be enough. Buffy was out scouting the uninhabited planets, trying to find one that they could settle on. Most of the uninhabited planets were uninhabited due to geological reasons, so her trips usually ended in disappointment.

Six hours later, they met in the conference room once again. Between McKay, Zelenka and Willow, they drew a clear picture of what they are dealing with. It isn't one big storm, as Buffy had first assumed, but two separate storms that had merged into one. Apparently, Buffy's comparison to hurricanes was more accurate than she realized. Because there was little landmass on the planet to slow down the growth, the two storms built and built until they converged into one massive, nearly planet wide superstorm, but because it moves over what little landmass there is, the chances for tornadoes and lightning storms rise almost exponentially.

"Wait a minute," Dawn asked suddenly. "why can't we use that?"

"What are you talking about?" McKay asked impatiently, irritated at being interrupted.

"We can't use the shields because we don't have the power, right?" Dawn said. "Well, lightning generates electricity and electricity..."

"Can be converted into the necessary power." Willow finished excitedly. "We just need a way to attract the electricity."

"There are lightning rods all over the city." Buffy told them. "They channel into four grounding stations in the main towers."

Then, the others sat back as the three genius ran off along the same line of thinking. If they disabled the grounding stations, then every time Atlantis was struck by lighting, it was cause a massive power surge through the city. By channeling the power directly into the shield generators, the shield would stay up as long as the storm continued.

"Too bad we don't have a way to store up all that energy." Willow lamented.

"You could always use the ECUs." Buffy told her friend.

All three scientists whipped around to face her. Buffy winced in sympathy as her sensitive hearing picked up the faint sound of popping coming from their necks. "That sounded like it hurt."

"Never mind that." Rodney snapped, rubbing his neck. "What were you talking about before?"

"The ECUs? They're Energy Containment Units. Some of the labs are equipped with them for experiments that require a lot of juice, and it was better to use stored energy than draw from the modules. That's one of the main reasons for all the lightning rods. They're in the labs in the East Tower." Buffy answered. "Oh, but you'd better be careful. There's one that trapping an energy being gives me the wiggins in a majorly BIG way. I think letting it out would be a REALLY bad idea."

"Wiggins?" McKay scoffed. "What the hell are 'wiggins'?"

"It's that feeling you get that keeps you from doing something or touching something that's gonna get you killed." Dawn answered quickly when she saw Buffy eyes narrow. "You know, that feeling that you're probably ignoring right now while you're pissing Buffy off."

He scowled at her but glanced nervously at the shorter blonde sitting next to her and shut up.

"We will still need to evacuate." Zelenka announced, filling in the sudden, awkward silence. "The lightning strikes will cause the entire city to become dangerously magnetized. The only safe place will be the control room.

"Very well," Elizabeth finally spoke. "We will continue the evacuation as planned. Rodney and Zelenka, you two work on the shield generator. Buffy, please take Willow and Dawn to the labs with the ECUs. Take Peter Grodin with you. He knows enough about Atlantis' systems to help with the rerouting. You have just under five hours, then I want all of you in the Gate room to join the rest of the team. Let's get to work."

A few hours later, Buffy found Elizabeth sitting in her now empty office. "That's just about everyone. Zelenka went out with the last group. Teyla, Ford and Beckett are still on the mainland, trying to locate a small hunting party. Everyone but McKay, Sheppard, you and me are gating out in an hour." She squatted down next to her mate's chair. "It's going to be all right, Elizabeth."

"You can't promise that, Buffy."

"Sure I can." Buffy's eyes twinkled mischievously. "I can't promise that the city will survive this storm, but I can promise that one way or another, it will be all right." Elizabeth laughed, then Buffy continued a little more seriously. "I've got the _Machine_ on stand-by. If this doesn't work, we'll submerge deep enough to ride out the storm, then join the others after it's over."

Suddenly the communications system activated, but all they received was broken static. After a few minutes of listening to it, Buffy looked at the Commander. "Elizabeth, is it just me, or is that repeating?"

Before she could respond, McKay and Sheppard ran into the room. Sheppard looked grimly at Elizabeth. "That's an S.O.S. It can only be Ford, but the winds are too strong for me to take a 'jumper out there."

Buffy stood up. "I could take the _Machine_, but then you would have to go deactivate my tower, Sheppard. I can maneuver underwater and go beneath the storm. It'll take me a while, though."

They both looked at Elizabeth, who nodded. "Go. I suspect that the Puddlejumper is strong enough to withstand the storm, but let's not take chances if Lieutenant Ford is already sending out distress signals. Get back here as soon as you can."

Buffy leaned down for a quick kiss, then ran off, pressing her finger to her temple to active the neural interface and remotely prepare her ship for underwater submersion.

"How are you doing?" Sheppard asked his CO as they made their way back to McKay's lab.

"A little overwhelmed and disappointed." Elizabeth answered honestly. "To have gone through so much, only to be defeated by the weather."

"You realize, of course, that if the city sinks, that's when Earth will find a ZPM and finally manage to make contact, right?"

- - - BtVS - - SG: Atlantis - - -

So far, everything was going to according to plan. Elizabeth and McKay were heading for the control room so that Rodney could complete the subroutine configurations, while Sheppard was running to deactivate the final grounding station.

_'Dr. Weir, there's been some sort of an attack from Manara. We have an Athosian party incoming with wounded.'_

Elizabeth and Rodney looked at each other, then started running. "We're on our way." She told the guards, then hailed Sheppard. "John, there's been an attack. We've got wounded coming in."

_'An attack? What kind of an attack?'_

"We're about to find out now." Elizabeth and Rodney ran into Gateroom, only to be brought up short by the weapons pointed at them. By Genii soldiers. "What the hell is this?"

"Dr. Elizabeth Weir?"

Elizabeth looked up to see an older man walked down from the control room. "Yes."

"You must then be Rodney McKay."

Rodney didn't answer, but then a familiar figure came down to stand next to the man. "That's him."

"Sora." Rodney spat out disgustedly. She sneered at him.

"Where is Major Sheppard?" The leader asked.

"You seem to know a lot about us. Who are you?"

"They're Genii." Rodney told her.

"We are," the man acknowledged. "and we are now in control of Atlantis."


	26. Chapter TwentyFive

**A/N: The next few chapters will focus on the Stargate Two-Part Episodes **_**The Storm/The Eye**_**. If you've watched those episodes, you'll know that a lot happened in those hours, and it took a while to get it all out and it was either put them in several chapters or make the next two super super long.**

Chapter Twenty-Five

Buffy reconfigured her sensors to compensate for the storm's interference, trying to find out exactly how far from shore the 'jumper was before she surfaced. It took her a few minutes, but finally the image filtered into view. The ship was only a few yards from shore, just outside the tree line.

"That should be close enough." She said thoughtfully, pressing the button on her earpiece. "Aiden, Teyla, do you read me?"

_'We read you.'_ Lieutenant Ford responded. _'A bolt of lightning broke through our shields. Everything's fried, and we've got a couple of scared kids here.'_

"I'm in the water directly ahead of you." Buffy told them. "I'm going to risk a quick flyover. When I give the word, you all need to come out the back of the 'jumper so I can pick you with the transporters."

'_Copy that.' _Ford responded. _'We'll be ready.'_

Buffy pressed a few more keys and her ship angled upwards towards the surface. Waves rocked the ship the closer she got, but with manual control, she kept her baby on course. The moment she was out of the water, she pressed the necessary buttons to open the hatches that sealed for underwater submersion, and her speed nearly tripled almost instantly. She flew low to the ground. Her intent was to angle sideways so that the bottom of the _Machine_ face the open hatch and transport them directly out of the ship. She was glad that the transporter area in her ship was empty, since she was sure to pick up whatever wasn't bolted down in the process. She was nearly at the downed ship when she commed Ford again.

"Now, Aiden!" She ordered, tilting her ship as the rear hatched rose up. She began her turn at the same time, so that by the time they were running out of the 'jumper, she was in position. Her fingers flew over her console to drop her shields, transport the small group and reactivate her shields, but not before she was rocked by a lightning strike.

The sudden surge shorted out several systems and would have fried her like it had done the 'jumper if she hadn't already shut them down. Only her steady hands on the manual controls and enhanced reflexes kept them from crashing into the ground when the strike hit the nose of the ship, causing it to tilt downwards. She rerouted power to close the front hatches and plunged into the ocean just as she was hit by a wave of fear.

"Elizabeth." She gasped.

'_Sheppard to Summers, come in?'_

- - - BtVS - - SG: Atlantis - - -

Sheppard kept his position in the corridor as he listened intently to what was happening in the Gateroom. Thankfully, Elizabeth had forgotten to turn of the comm device when she'd been captured, so he had an idea of what was happening. As soon as he'd heard the strange voices, he'd keyed the mute button his earpiece. He cursed under his breath when he heard McKay tell her that their intruders were the Genii. Thinking quickly, he cautiously made his way to the hanger and climbed into one of the Puddlejumpers.

"Sheppard to Summers, come in?"

'_Sheppard, what's going on?'_ Buffy demanded. _'What's wrong with Elizabeth?'_

_Now, how the hell did she know that?,_ he asked himself before responding. "From what I can ascertain, a small Genii strike force has gated in."

"The Genii?" Lieutenant Ford repeated, startled. "The folks who wanted us to build them an A-bomb?"

"Yeah, them, and they've got Weir and McKay hostage. They've also got control of the Gateroom."

He heard Buffy growl, actually _growl_, before she calmed enough to respond. "I'm pushing the _Machine_ as hard as I can, but it will still take me a while to get back. If they hurt her, John, I'll kill them all."

The hairs on the back of his neck rose at the deadly tone of her voice. "Just get back here as fast as you can. I could use backup on this one."

Cutting the communication, he concentrated for a moment, then grabbed the lifesign detector from the panel that opened in response to his need.

- - - BtVS - - SG: Atlantis - - -

"Who are you?" Elizabeth asked the man who was obviously the leader.

"Commander Acastus Kolya." The soldier answered. "This Atlantis is extraordinary. More than I ever imagined."

"What have you done with the rest of my people?" Elizabeth demanded.

"I'm quite sure they have no idea we're even here."

"Then they're safe?"

"Yes."

Elizabeth breathed a little easier. At least that was something. "There was a time when our two peoples considered becoming allies. Why are you doing this?"

"You're in possession of supplies we vitally need." Kolya told her. "Hand them over without difficulty and we'll leave peacefully."

"Or?"

"We're both intelligent people, Dr. Weir." He said genially. "I'm sure there's no need for me to demonstrate once again the strength of my resolve."

Elizabeth sighed. No, there wasn't. "Which supplies did you have in mind?"

"All of your stores of the C4 explosive, all of your medical supplies, the Wraith data device you stole from my people, and one of your ships."

McKay snorted. "Oh, Is _that_ all?!?"

Kolya turned his attention to him, and Rodney swallowed audibly and closed his mouth. "No. Where is Major Sheppard?"

"Some of our people had a mishap on the mainland, and he went to retrieve them." Elizabeth answered. "We can't give you what you want. Everything has already been moved out of the city because of the storm."

Kolya held up his hand to stop her. "Please do not insult me with lies. We already have people among the population where your people have taken refuge, and know that your weaponry was not sent through. So, please, show my men where they can find what they are looking for."

He nodded to Sora, who grabbed Elizabeth by the arm and pulled her out of the room. They were followed by several men. Kolya turned his attention back to McKay. "While we wait, let's you and I discuss just where Major Sheppard _really_ is."

- - - BtVS - - SG: Atlantis - - -

When Elizabeth and her 'escort' returned some time later conspicuously empty handed, Rodney was slumped in a chair, whimpering and holding his arm close to his body. The sleeve of his jacket was slashed and covered in blood. "Oh, God, Rodney, what did they do to you?"

"I tried to keep my mouth shut, I really tried," He whimpered again as she gingerly checked the injury. "I just couldn't..."

He trailed off with a look of fright as Kolya approached them holding out a radio. "How does this work?"

"Press down the button to talk, release it to listen." McKay answered quickly with a nervous glance to the soldier in the corner meticulously cleaning a knife.

The Genii commander pressed and held down the button. "This is Commander Kolya."

'_Kolya, huh, now that a hard name to pronounce.'_ They heard Sheppard quip. _'Is that a first name? My name's Major John Sheppard and I have hidden the C4 where you will never, let me repeat that again, NEVER, find it. When I get confirmation that the prisoners have been safely released and allowed to gate off Atlantis, I will help you find it.'_

Koyla looked approvingly at Elizabeth. "He's good."

"Yes, he is." Elizabeth said softly. "I'd suggest you do as he says."

Koyla tipped his head before speaking into the radio. "You're offer is very generous, Major. However, Dr. McKay has recently informed me that there is a plan in motion to save the city."

'_He what?!?'_ Rodney flinched at the anger in Sheppard's voice.

Koyla chuckled. "It is my understanding that there is one final grounding station that needs to be deactivated. Uncouple the grounding rods at Station Three, assist with the reactivation of the shield, and you and your friends can leave here unharmed."

'_I thought all you wanted was C4 and a Jumper.'_

"Why raid a city when you can seize it, Major?" Kolya said smugly. "Atlantis will be ours or the ocean's. Your choice."

- - - BtVS - - SG: Atlantis - - -

"I'm gonna kill the little coward." Buffy snarled. She had patched into Atlantis' internal communications, and they'd been listening to the entire conversation.

"Rodney doesna handle pain verra well, I'm afraid." Beckett defended his friend, his accent thickening in his worry. "My question is, why would the Genii attack us now?"

"We didn't exactly leave on the best terms." Ford told them. "I mean, aside from the fact that we stole some of their gear, and didn't hand over the C4 we promised them, they're pretty convinced Teyla killed one of their top guys."

"They are incorrect." Teyla said tersely, remembering Sora's accusations of abandoning her father to the Wraith. "The fact that they chose our weakest hour cannot be a coincidence. Someone must have told them that we would be in a diminished capacity."

"Well, it wasn't one of us, so I had to be someone on Manara." Lt. Ford rationalized.

As they speculated, Buffy kept her attention on what was happening in the city.

Her lips curled in a silent snarl as she listened to the conversation between Elizabeth and Kolya, then her fists clenched as she heard gunfire. She nearly screamed in rage until her brain realized that the gunfire wasn't coming from Elizabeth's location.

- - - BtVS - - SG: Atlantis - - -

'_Let me tell you what you did wrong here, Kolya.'_ Sheppard's voice came through the radio. _'A) you lost two of your men, B) you damaged the switch before I could separate the grounding rods, which I'm sure you're gonna get an earful from McKay for and C) you lost all of what little credibility you had with me.'_

The senseless destruction of the mechanism that could have saved their lives pushed Rodney beyond his fear. "D'you have any idea of how big a setback that is? I may not even be able to activate the shield. I mean, I can't possibly..." The soldier from before grabbed his injured arm, but he was currently beyond intimidation. "Get _off_ me!"

"You killed two of my men." Kolya said coldly.

'_I guess we're even.'_

"I don't _like_ even." Even Rodney's voice filtered off as the Genii Commander pulled a pistol out of his coat. "Say goodbye to Dr. Weir.

'_The city has a self-destruct button.'_ Sheppard said frantically. _'You hurt her, I'll activate it. Nobody'll get Atlantis.'_

"Even if it exists, Major, you need at least two senior personnel to activate it, and I'm about to take one of them out of the equation."

_'Kolya!'_ Sheppard shouts, but Kolya ignores him as he stares into Elizabeth's terrified eyes. _'Kolya, I'll give you a ship! I'll fucking fly you outta here myself!'_

"Too late for that, Major."

_'Kolya!!!!'_


	27. Chapter TwentySix

Chapter Twenty-Six

Just as the Genii Commander was about to shoot, another voice silenced Sheppard's ranting. _'He might need a backup, but I sure as hell don't.'_

They were all thrown to the ground as Atlantis shook violently and Kolya immediately released the pressure on the trigger as his aim went wide. One of the men that Kolya had posted to keep an eye on the approaching storm stumbled in. "Sir, the city! It's sinking!"

Kolya kept his weapon trained on Dr. Weir. "Whomever you are, stop this or the good doctor dies."

"Are you crazy!" McKay hissed. "Don't say that. She'll kill us all."

Atlantis rocked again and they felt it sinking faster. The Genii Commander looked at the scientists in surprise. "Who is she?"

_'One word, McKay,'_ the voice said coldly over the intercom. _'and you'd better pray that they kill you.'_

McKay slammed his mouth shut so fast that they heard his teeth clatter. Kolya could tell that McKay was more scared of this female, then he was of the men holding him captive. Interesting. He moved the gun from Weir to McKay.

"Fine." He said, trying to remain calm. "Stop the sinking, or Dr. McKay dies instead."

McKay groaned despairingly when nothing happened. Finally, Elizabeth spoke. "Put the weapon away, Commander, and I will tell her to stop."

"Will she listen to you?" He demanded.

"Right now, I'm the _only_ one she'll listen to."

Kolya was furious. This was not how the mission was supposed to go. This complication was unexpected and obviously dangerous. He was calculating the odds when Sora stepped up next to him. "Sir, we need the city _above_ sea level to get what we want. We _need_ the C4 and the medical supplies. Let them keep the Home of the Ancestors. According to Sheppard, the control panel is destroyed, so they will die with it anyway."

Gritting his teeth, Kolya holstered his weapon with a curt nod.

"Stop the descent, Buffy." Elizabeth immediately said. "We're fine."

After a tense moment, they felt the city rock once more, but this time the movement was upward instead of down. After a few minutes, everything stabilized, and one of his men came running in. "We're back on the surface."

_'Now take McKay to the grounding station so he can fix it.'_

Kolya looked at Sora and Laden, his technician. "Send for the reinforcements."

~~~ BtVS ~~ SG: Atlantis ~~~

Buffy parked the _Machine_ in her hanger and the small group filed out. The moment the Commander had threatened her mate's life, she had cursed viciously, cranked her shields to maximum and shot out of the water.

"Everyone not in a chair, put your backs to a wall." She ordered, handling the manual controls. She ignored the scent of fear filling the small cabin as she wove in and out of lightning strikes and used her superior strength to keep them on course against the fiercely blowing winds.

The remainder of the trip, which would have taken another forty-five minutes underwater, was cut down to barely five. When the civilians and Beckett stumbled out of the sleek ship, they were understandably weak-legged, but Buffy wasted little time.

"Carson, take the others and get into one of the 'jumpers." She ordered. "You'll be safe in there. Ford, Teyla, go find Sheppard and start cleaning house."

"Where are you going?"

"To save my mate, and kill that bastard." Buffy ran off. She headed straight for her quarters and began inputting commands. She had just finished the sequence when she heard Sheppard scream her prey's name. Snarling, she pressed the transmit button on her earpiece. "He might need a backup, but I sure as hell don't."

With that, she hit the last button in her command, and the city began to descend back into the ocean. She listened impassively to the panicked screams when Kolya's men realized what was happening and spread the word. Still connected to her ship through her neural interface, she could still hear everything going on in the city. She listened closely to the control room, and interrupted only to threaten McKay. Finally, she heard what she really needed to hear.

_'Stop the descent, Buffy. We're fine._'

With a breath of relief, Buffy reversed the command and re-raised the city. She told them to take McKay to fix the grounding station, and smiled coldly to herself when she heard the leader tell another to send for reinforcements. _Won't he be disappointed?_, she thought to herself as she entered another set of commands, patching into the control systems. She waiting until she heard new voices, then executed the commands, raising the shields and completely shutting down all the consoles in the control room, effectively cutting off their eyes to the rest of the city. Smiling grimly, she slipped on her coat, then moved over to her weapons locker and pulled out her sword and knives. She could feel the Slayer forcing her way to the forefront of her consciousness, and did nothing to stop it. She left the mic of her earpiece switched on. She wanted this man to hear the screams, to know that she was coming for him. He had invaded her territory and threatened her mate. Now, it was time for him to face the consequences.

~~~ BtVS ~~ SG: Atlantis ~~~

Elizabeth put her hand to her head as she was suddenly swamped with a rage so intense that she nearly gasped out loud. Without having to think about it, she knew that it was coming from Buffy. Suddenly, she remembered the conversation with Willow. The Slayer in Buffy was a predator, with all the instincts of one. Her home, her territory, had been invaded, her mate had been threatened. She looked around at the Genii force.

_Oh God, this is going to get very bad, _she thought to herself.

~~~ BtVS ~~ SG: Atlantis ~~~

"Sir, the shield has been raised!" Sora cried out, watching in horror as flashes against the shield denoted dying men. She keyed on her radio. "This is Sora! Stop sending people through! The Stargate Shield has been raised."

More flashes of light.

Kolya grabbed McKay and shoved him to the console. "Lower the shield!"

He punched a few buttons, but the console was dark and unresponsive. "I can't. Whatever she did, she's killed all the power to the control room."

Kolya whipped out his weapon and pressed it to McKay's temple. "FIX IT!!!"

"I CAN'T!" McKay screamed, terrified. "She's not one of us. She has her own access to the city. I couldn't even begin to figure out what she did, much less how to get around it!"

After a few more flashes, the gate shut down. Sora looked down at it in horror.

Kolya gritted his teeth. "How many made it through."

"5." She whispered. "5 out of a company of 60."

With a growl of fury, he shoved McKay back towards Weir, still pointing his weapon at the cowering man.

"You still need us both if you want to save the city!" Weir said quickly, flinching at the murderous look in his eyes.

He stared at her for a long, tense moment before finally lowering his gun. Finally, he turned back to Sora.

"Can you still track Sheppard, and find that female?"

"No, we can't do anything." Laden shook his head. His eyes were wide and his voice shook in disbelief. 55 men gone, just like that.

Kolya cursed viciously. This was getting out of hand. "Sora, take a team and find Sheppard, Laden, you take a team and find this new threat. I want the systems brought back up and both of them brought to me. I am taking McKay and Weir to the grounding station. If we cannot leave, then we are also at the mercy of this storm."

"Yes, sir." She said fiercely. She glared hatefully at Weir and McKay, then stormed out.

He shoved McKay then grabbed Dr. Weir by the shoulder to keep her directly in front of him as they headed out of the now useless control room. Elizabeth hissed as pain flared when his fingers brushed against the bond-mark on her neck.

Everyone froze, shivers of fear snaking down more than one spine, as a growl reverberated through the city. Tightening his grip on his weapon, Kolya pushed them along.

~~~ BtVS ~~ SG: Atlantis ~~~

Sora took her three man team to Sheppard last location, figuring that there weren't too many directions that he could go. She did not expect to nearly walk around a corner and into the man's direct path. The only thing that kept their presence a secret was that she had heard a familiar voice that had frozen her in her tracks.

"Major Sheppard, wait for us." Teyla Emmagen called as she and Lieutenant Ford approached their commanding officer.

"You ok, sir?" Ford asked.

"Been better. Forgot to eat my Wheaties this morning." Sheppard said wearily. "How'd you get here so fast? Thought you were still a ways out."

"As soon as that Kolya guy started threatening Dr. Weir, she risked flying in the storm." Ford reported. "Wouldn't recommend it in the future, though, sir."

Sora's teeth bared in an silent snarl of hatred, and she signaled her men to move, just as the first screams rang out.


	28. Chapter TwentySeven

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The Slayer growled as the connection between her and her mate flared to life. Her mate had been touched. Not merely threatened, but _touched._ She pushed Buffy completely into the background of their shared consciousness when the pain blossomed from the mark over her heart. Now was not the time to be hampered by humanity. It was time to remove this threat to her mate and her territory.

She regulated her breathing to the point where she would not register on the sensors. Buffy may have disabled the control room, but she did not want to be tracked if these invaders have gotten their hands on a lifesign detector. Which was possible with that sniveling cowardly male, McKay.

When she was ready, she exited her quarters and paused to focus her senses. The nearest group was two corridors ahead. Three males. She bared her teeth in a parody of a smile and tightened her grips on her knives. They wish to be as bad as the Wraith? Then she would treat them like the Wraith. This was a culling that the Genii would _never_ forget.

~~~ BtVS ~~ SG: Atlantis ~~~

"What the hell is that?" One of the men behind Kolya gasped as screams reverberated through the halls.

"No one panic." Kolya barked, tightening his grip on Elizabeth's arm. "Everyone just keep moving."

When they reached the grounding station, Kolya waved his gun slightly in McKay's direction for him to get working. He couldn't admit it, either verbally or by facial expression, but he was worried. He did not like the sounds of those screams. Even more, he did not like the fact that there had not been a single shot fired.

"Fix the panel quickly." He ordered the scientist.

Nodding, McKay pulls off the cover of the destroyed panel. "I should be able to bypass the switching station entirely."

"Good." _Finally, something right_, Kolya thought. "How long?"

"Well, it's not as bad as I thought so, 15-20 minutes, tops."

"Then I suggest you get started."

"Yeah, right." McKay took a deep breath to steady his hands. "This would go a lot easier if I wasn't all carved up." He muttered to himself as pain flared in his arm as he beckons to his Commander. "Elizabeth, could you?

"Of course." Elizabeth bent down with the torch.

"That's perfect." He said, getting to work. "Keep it right there."

_'Commander Kolya!_'

"Yes, Laden?"

_'I've found some of our men, sir.'_ They could hear the terror in his voice. _'They have been sliced open like cattle.'_

Kolya closed his eyes momentarily. "How many?"

_'Three, sir.'_ Came the answer. He made a sound as if to continue speaking, when they clearly heard someone gurgle. _'Oh, dear... Omph!'_ Even McKay stopped working as they all listened wide-eyed at the gunfire and screams and audible sounds of flesh striking flesh. _'W-w-who are y-y-you? W-why a-a-are you doing t-t-this?'_

_'You are monsters.'_ The anxious listeners could barely make out the softly whispered words. _'Now, you are prey.'_

In a rage, Kolya threw his radio across the room. He watched as the sturdy piece of technology shattered against the far wall. He grabbed another radio from the man standing nearby. "All teams, all teams, find Laden and _neutralize_ this threat. If it is not Genii, kill it on sight." He turned furious eyes on McKay and Weir. "Finish!"

McKay squeaked and turned back to the panel. Fifteen minutes later, he twists the last wire and Elizabeth helped him get to his feet. He gives the Atlantis leader a look. "Oh please let this work."

He moves the crystals and holds his breath, exhaling in relief when the grounding station disconnects. He desperately wanted this whole thing to be over. He was going to have nightmares for months. The entire time he was working, he heard screams and gunfire and increasingly hysterical reports of mutilated and sliced up bodies of Genii soldiers.

Kolya rose the radio to his lips. "Everyone fall back to the control room. We will let the lightning kill our enemies."

~~~ BtVS ~~ SG: Atlantis ~~~

Sora waved her team to follow Kolya's orders, but she hesitated, torn. She pulled her radio from her belt. "Commander Kolya, she's here."

_'Who?'_ Kolya asked irritably.

"Teyla. She and the one called Ford have joined Sheppard." Sora explained.

_'And you are just now telling me this?!? Report to the control room immediately.'_

"She is just out of my reach. If I am patient..."

_'You have your orders.'_

"She left my father for dead!"

_'If you wish to wait for an opportunity, then do so!'_ Kolya spat angrily. _'Know this, however, once the gateroom has been sealed, it will not be opened for anyone. Either report to the control room now, or die with her.'_

"If that is what it takes." Sora's voice was determined. She turned off the radio when he tried to reason with her again. "My father _will_ be avenged."

She listened to their plan and heard Sheppard run off in another direction while Teyla and Ford moved towards where she was standing. As soon as she saw their shadows, she stepped around the corner, lashing out and knocking the young man out with the butt of her gun. She pointed it down at his head as Teyla brought her own weapon up. "Drop your weapons, or I will kill him."

She kept her weapon steady on Ford as Teyla threw her weapons away, then tossed her own gun as well and pulled out a knife. "I would hate to kill you quickly."

"I have known you nearly all your life, Sora. Why are you doing this?"

"You left him to die."

"He killed an innocent and alerted the Wraith to our presence. Even so, there was nothing that could be done for him."

From a level above, a narrow-eyed and blood splattered hunter watched and listened. The female invader would not win in this contest, that she could clearly see, so she moved on to find her next prey. She had listened to the one in charge tell his people to converge in the control room for safety with the radio that she had taken from one of the bodies. She knew that with so many in one place, she would not be able to get to her mate without one of them getting killed, so she altered her plan and headed for the hanger instead.

~~~ BtVS ~~ SG: Atlantis ~~~

"Raise the shields." Kolya ordered as soon as all of the gateroom doors were closed.

"I can't without power to the controls." McKay sputtered, jabbing at the dead buttons. "Elizabeth, you have to talk to her!"

"No one is talking to anyone." Kolya growled.

"Do you want to argue about it while we're drowning?" McKay snapped at his bullheadedness. "She's the only one that the damn girl will listen to. Haven't you figured that out yet?"

"Who is she?" Kolya demanded.

_'I am Slayer.' _a voice said unexpectedly. _'I hunt Evil. You are Evil.'_

"Buffy, you have to restore power to the control room." Elizabeth said.

Before she had even finished speaking, the Stargate activated with a sudden _kwoosh,_ killing several men that had been standing on the steps. _'That is your home. Leave now, or die.'_

Kolya's men, many of whom had grown up on tales of the myth of the Slayer, did not hesitate as they were suddenly made aware of how badly they had pissed off what, to many of them, was a folk hero. To many of the young soldiers, it was as bad a defiling a temple, and their sudden shame drove them out of Atlantis faster than the oncoming storm. As Kolya, Elizabeth and Rodney watched the men run into the event horizon, no one noticed when the ceiling opened with a bare whisper of a sound. No one saw the bloody blonde head peer over the edge, her burning gaze focused on the male threatening her mate.

"The gate won't stay open forever, Commander." Elizabeth said quietly. "I don't think she will be inclined to offer you this chance again."

They could tell that he was grinding his teeth in helpless rage. Then his gaze turned calculating. "Fine, but you two are coming with me."

"What?" McKay squawked as two of Kolya's men grabbed his arms.

"You will serve the Genii as repayment for the lives lost here today." He pushed them ahead of him. "If this _Slayer_ is as dedicated to Dr. Weir's well being as you seem to think she is, then she will not interfere."

There were five feet away from the gate when Sheppard appeared out of nowhere and shot both the men holding McKay. In a flash, Kolya turned towards him, yanking Elizabeth against his body as a human shield. Sheppard's eyes widened, but not at Kolya's actions. Behind the Genii, he saw Buffy hang from the opening in the ceiling, then drops down soundlessly on top of the Stargate, directly over Kolya's head. He mentally slapped himself and refocused. "Let her go, Kolya. You're not taking her anywhere."

"And what are you going to do about it?" The Genii commander taunted.

"Me, nothing," Sheppard answered, then lowered his weapon to gesture behind him. "but _her_, on the other hand..."

A rumbling growl had Kolya spinning around in time to be see the enraged Slayer land behind him. She leapt at him with a quick slash across his arm that had him dropping his gun. In a desperate move, he shoved his hostage at her and threw himself into the shimmering pool. Instinct had Buffy cradling Elizabeth close instead of pursuing her prey, and then the gate closed. A moment later, Teyla and Sora stumbled into the gateroom with Ford.

"Buffy, the controls." Elizabeth gasped, her throat aching from where Kolya's forearm had been pressed against it. "We need them back so that Rodney can activate the shields."

Picking her up effortlessly, Buffy hugged her close even as she ran through the halls back to her quarters. Sitting Elizabeth on her bed, Buffy quickly entered the commands to restore the control room. She also sealed her room which, because it doubled as a stasis chamber, was equipped with it's own shielding which kept it isolated from the city. It was why the city's sensors couldn't see the room if Buffy didn't want them to. Then, in a flash, she was on the bed as well, running gentle fingers over her mate, tenderly checking her over for injuries.

Elizabeth stayed still and allowed the examination, knowing without being told that the Slayer had to reassure herself. After a few minutes, the Atlantis leader tangled her slender fingers with callused ones. "I'm all right, Buffy."

Buffy looked her in the eyes, and Elizabeth could tell that the Slayer was still in control. Her eyes were wild and hot and, to Elizabeth's surprise, her pupils were slitted, like a cat's.

"I'm all right." She repeated.

"Mine." Buffy said, then leaned forward and kissed her almost desperately. "My mate."


	29. Chapter TwentyEight

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Buffy fought her way back to the surface of her consciousness as she felt the Slayer's intentions. She couldn't let it happen like this. For a while now, she had been holding the Slayer off from claiming their mate, not wanting to scare Elizabeth off, but after nearly losing her, the Slayer was not willing to be put off any longer.

"Elizabeth," Buffy gasped, breaking the kiss. "do you want this?"

Elizabeth looked into her wild eyes. She could see Buffy trying desperately to hold on to her control. She knew that if she told Buffy that she wasn't ready, Buffy would do whatever she had to, to let Elizabeth walk away unclaimed.

_But what would that do to her?,_ Elizabeth thought. She cupped the blonde's check, and her lips curled into a small smile when Buffy eyes half-closed and she leaned into the touch, a soft purring sound vibrating up her throat. The choice, she realized, was surprisingly easy after the ordeal she'd just been through. They had put this off long enough. She closed the distance between them to murmur against the lips of her small, powerful, soon-to-be lover. "Yes, Buffy, I want this. I want you."

The Slayer shuddered and wrested control once again as her mate's soft breath wafted over her lips, causing them to tingle. With a low growl, she pressed their lips together, using that moment of surprise to push her tongue into the warm haven that called to her. She was finished waiting. She wanted, no _needed_, to claim her mate, once and for all. She released Elizabeth's hand to pull her closer as her other hand wrapped around the back of her mate's head, tilting it slightly so that she could deepen the kiss.

Elizabeth moaned low in her throat as heat flared through her body. She'd never been kissed so intensely before. It felt like the Slayer never intended to let her go. Her hands came up, of their own will, to bury themselves in blonde hair, only for her to draw back from the kiss at the feel of the stiff locks. That's when she really took in the blonde's appearance. She was covered in dried blood and sweat. It was splattered all over her coat and hair and smeared across her face, making her look feral and deadly. She shuddered briefly as she recalled the screams of the slaughtered men that she'd heard.

"No be scared." The Slayer pleaded as she caught the scent of Elizabeth's sudden fear, pressing their foreheads together. "Never hurt mate."

Elizabeth's eyes softened, and she kissed her quickly in reassurance. "I'm not scared of you, honey. Everything just caught up with me, that's all." She took the other woman's hands and stood. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up."

As she led the now mostly docile Slayer to the bathroom, she realized that she _wasn't_ scared of the Slayer, despite the carnage that she knew the woman was responsible for in the corridors of the city. Instead, she felt safe and protected and able to let go as she'd never been able to before. She never felt this comfortable in a relationship, especially so quickly, even with Simon. She ran the shower as Buffy stripped out of her clothes. Her breath caught in her throat when she turned back to an eyeful of bronzed flesh and shifting muscles.

"Oh, God." She gasped as her body clenched. They had been careful to keep their intimacies to a minimum during their dates, but that had not lessened the need that cycled between them. She quickly undressed, watching Buffy with hungry eyes as she stepped into the shower and raised her face the spray. Stepping up behind her, she grabbed the body sponge and body wash, remembering with a smile when she'd come into see Dawn and found Buffy raiding her sister's stash of toiletries.

She washed Buffy carefully, paying special attention to the bruising that was now visible. She silently thanked that lost culture that had created the coat that Buffy wore. It looked like she had been shot more than once, in places that could have been serious, if not fatal, had they penetrated. As she washed her, the Slayer took the bottle of soap in her own hands, rubbed her hands into a lather, and began washing her in return. She took advantage of no clothe or body sponge, tweaking Elizabeth's nipples, caressing her sides, even kneading her hips. It took all of Elizabeth's willpower to keep her concentration on what she was doing.

She washed Buffy's hair thoroughly, cleaning it of the blood and gore that tangled the locks. As she maneuvered Buffy back under the spray to rinse her hair out, the Slayer's hands circled her waist to rub the lather on her ass. And then a bit lower. Elizabeth's control shattered and she swooped down to capture the blonde's lips in a fierce kiss.

The next thing Elizabeth knew, she was lifted her off her feet and braced against the wall.

~~~ BtVS ~~ SG: Atlantis ~~~

After the city had been electrified from the lightning strikes, and the shield finally powered up and activated, they had waited out the storm until it was safe to leave the control room. They kept the communication line open to the jumper where the doctor was holed up with the Athosians as the storm raged overhead. It had taken several hours for the storm to blow over, but when it did, the city was still standing, it was fully powered for the first time, including the shields, and all of the ECUs were completely full. It was a happy group that went to get the doctor and the Athosians from the hanger.

"Let's take a look at that, shall we?" Dr. Beckett said to Rodney, gently unwrapping the bandage and probing the knife wound on his arm.

"Shouldn't we go check on Dr. Weir?" Ford asked.

"You can go if you want to." McKay said. "I'm staying as far away from them as possible."

Ford looked at him in confusion, but Sheppard just shook his head.

"They're fine." The Colonel said. He had seen the look on Elizabeth's face when she had been caught in Buffy's arms. He had also realized just how *involved* the two women were, and his hopes of somehow attracting the beautiful Commander had died a quiet death under the look of relief and unconscious love in Elizabeth's face as she was held close. It looked like he'd have to settle for her friendship. _Ah, well,_ he thought, _there's other fish out there. At least they're happy._

He'd also seen the look in Buffy's eyes when she'd ran out of the room with Elizabeth. He'd had a few run-ins with the need for hard, fast sex after a hard fought battle himself. He was once told that it was called battle-lust by some history professor he'd been dating on one such occasion. They were probably banging each other's brains out at that very moment. He didn't experience it often, but damn was the sex great when he did.

Sheppard and his team left Carson and the Athosians in the medical room while they cleaned up the messes that Buffy had left in her wake. Rodney was a little sickened at the sight of bodies that she had almost literally cut to pieces. Sheppard was the first to notice the green tinge to his face.

"So, McKay," He began conversationally as he and Ford lifted one of the bodies onto a cargo lift that they had retrieved from one of the storage rooms. "do you really think constantly irritating Buffy is safe?"

Rodney squeaked as he took in the carnage. Buffy had threatened him on countless occasions. The last time they had argued, she'd even held him dangling from her fists off the balcony, but he had never really thought that such a little girl was capable of this kind of violence. Intellectually, he knew that this was only because of the threat to Elizabeth, but still, it was terrifying and nauseating to realize that he had been badgering and pissing off anyone who could do this. Slapping his hand over his mouth, he suddenly turned and ran back down the corridor.

"That wasn't nice, sir." Aiden commented to his commanding officer.

"Maybe not, but better he realize it now before he manages to push the girl too far." Sheppard acknowledged. "I really don't want to have to be doing this to his body parts." He nodded down to one of the weapons that was currently in two pieces. "That wasn't sliced open by one of her swords. That gun was snapped in half."

Teyla looked down to the weapon that he had indicated. He was correct, she saw. The metal was twisted and jagged where it had split from its counterpart, instead of cleanly cut. She worried about how much physical strength that it would take to do such a thing so easily, and realized that the warning to McKay was quite possibly a very wise one.

Aiden said nothing as he too thought about the implications. He liked the Sunnydale group. They were probably the only people from Earth anywhere near his age that had been allowed to come to Atlantis. He knew that a few of the scientists were in his age range, but other than Willow, and sometimes McKay, who was getting better but still an arrogant jackass most of the time, scientists and military didn't tend to get along very well.

"What now, sir?" He finally asked as they hauled another body.

"Now, we're going to start bringing the others back, starting with a few clean up teams." Sheppard said, grunting as they heft another body onto the lift. "We're going to have to keep everyone calm until Elizabeth rejoins us. They're gonna know something happened, what with the bloodstains on the floor and all."

"My people will also need to return to the mainland as soon as possible to begin rebuilding." Teyla commented. "With the severity of the storm, I doubt that any of our crops survived, so we will need to trade for provisions."

"Don't worry about that." Sheppard dismissed. "Regardless of where you are, the moment we brought you here, your people became our people. We share, we don't trade."

Teyla gave him a small smile and a nod before continuing to gather the weapons, both whole and destroyed, in the large bag that Sora was holding open.

~~~ BtVS ~~ SG: Atlantis ~~~

Sora was looking at the carnage surrounding her with a sick sensation in her stomach. These had been comrades, and friends. Some, she had grown up with. Now, they were gone, slaughtered in a raid that _she_ helped orchestrate. Her overwhelming hatred for the Atlantis people, for Teyla, had brought them to this.

"So what happens to me now?" She asked as she steadies the heavy bag over her shoulder.

"That will be up to Dr. Weir, I'm afraid." Teyla answered. "Until then, you will remain in the detention cell."

She looked at the pile of bodies, and body parts. "She would have slaughtered us all like cattle."

"You invaded her home and threatened her loved ones." Teyla looked her in the eye. "What did you expect?"

Sora looked away. She'd heard what the Slayer had said to Commander Kolya when they were making their way to the control room. She had insinuated that the Genii had become no better than the Wraith. She wondered if it was true. The Genii themselves did not deal in arms, but were willing to kill their new allies for the C4. There had been other things that she had been uncomfortable with, for quite some time, but it had all faded to the background after her father had died. For the first time since the incident, she thought, _really thought_, about the disastrous mission.

The source of her hatred for Teyla had always been that the Athosian had left her father to the Wraith, but Teyla had said that her father had killed an innocent and drawn the Wraith's attention. Despite her hatred, she'd never known the Athosian to be a liar. All any of the others had told her was that her father had been stunned and she'd left him to die. She had been too angry to ask for any details of the mission, and no one had volunteered. She no longer knew what to think.


	30. Chapter TwentyNine

A/N: Check out the fanart for this story made by Methos here. This is so cool. This is almost as cool as the COA Nomination. :D

Chapter Twenty-Nine

It took them a few hours to get rid of all the bodies and/or body parts. Rodney heaved twice more, his sensitive stomach rebelling both at the carnage and the smell. The flesh of the dead men had been burnt to a crisp as electricity washed through the city after each lightning strike, as did the blood that had been splattered liberally through the halls, and the stench was nearly overwhelming. Regardless, Sheppard wanted the bodies gone, at least, before they began bringing people back.

Willow, Dawn, Xander and Ronan were among the first to return to Atlantis, and the first thing that they noticed was the congealing pools of blood on the gateroom floor and the scent of charred flesh in the air. They looked at each other as one thought struck them all at the same time. _Buffy._

Dawn nearly slapped herself trying to press the commlink in her ear. "Buffy, are you okay?"

After a few tense moments, Buffy's sleepy voice answered. "We're fine, Dawn. You guys missed all the action, though. Is Wills there?"

"Yeah. Do you want us to come to your room?"

"Umm, not right now." Buffy told her. "We'll meet you guys in the conference room."

"We?" Dawn asked, but Buffy was already gone. At the expectant looks on the others' faces, she relayed Buffy's end of the conversation.

"She and Elizabeth must have mated." Willow surmised. "I thought they were taking it slow."

"Maybe all the blood has something to do with it." Xander suggested.

~~~ BtVS ~~ SG: Atlantis ~~~

"The others are coming back." Buffy said softly, kissing the bare shoulder of the woman waking up next to her.

Elizabeth sighed, for a moment regretting her position as base commander. Right now, she wanted nothing more than to lay here in the cozy afterglow of the last couple of hours. After that first round in the showers, Buffy had carried her to the bed, and they had thoroughly explored each others bodies until Elizabeth had nearly passed out from the pleasure. Her body felt deliciously sore as she stretched her overused muscles, and she smiled to herself as Buffy's eyes drifted over her skin to her breasts as the sheet slid off of her chest with her movement.

"God, you're beautiful." Buffy whispered. She was braced above Elizabeth, idly tracing the smooth curves of her skin, before leaning down to kiss her leisurely. She felt Elizabeth's fingers sliding into her hair and enjoyed the ball of heat growing low in her belly, but regretfully pulled away after a few moments. "I figured that you'd want to talk to the others about the Genii invasion, so I told Dawn that we'd meet them in the conference room."

Elizabeth nodded, and relayed the same information to Sheppard. She climbed out of the bed, conscious of the eyes on her body and gathered up her clothes. "I have to get back to my quarters to shower and change." She told Buffy, dressing quickly before leaning over to kiss her once again. "So should you."

"But I like the scent of you all over me." Buffy grinned at her.

"Buffy..." Elizabeth started, leveling a look at her that almost came close to Willow's 'resolve face'.

"All right, all right." Buffy relented. "I'll meet you outside your quarters."

Elizabeth nodded and left. Buffy dropped back down onto her back and grinned up at the ceiling. She could tell that she was going to like having a mate.

Twenty minutes later, Buffy was standing outside of Elizabeth's quarters, waiting patiently. Elizabeth knew she was out there, but Buffy didn't want to go inside, knowing that if she got her mate close to a bed, they wouldn't be going anywhere for a while. Finally, the doors slid open and the Atlantis commander came out.

"How do you want to play this?" Buffy asked as they walked down the corridor. "I think most people have probably realized that we were dating, but nobody but the Scoobies know about the mating thing. Do you want to tell anyone else?"

Elizabeth thought for a moment. "I think that John and Carson will need to know." She decided. "I have no intention of hiding our relationship, although I am worried about holding onto my command. 65% of the personnel here is military, and they do not respond well to same-sex relationships."

"I told you before that you wouldn't have to worry about your command." Buffy told her. "I have more access to the city than you guys, and I'll lock it all down before I let them do that to you, and if they want to take the soldier boys away, then I know a lot of girls on Earth that would have no problems relocating here to Atlantis to fight the Wraith. Just think of this as a chance to make the military see how backwards that kind of thinking really is."

Elizabeth considered that, realizing that Buffy had a valid point. The way Gay and Lesbian relations and rights were evolving in the US, the military would be forced to reevaluate their position sooner or later.

"Anyway, we'll worry about that later." Buffy suggested, kissing Elizabeth's knuckles just before they entered the open area of the gateroom. "We have ourselves to take care of now."

Buffy allowed a little more space between them as they passed the men attempting to clean away the blood that had been boiled into the gateroom floor from the Genii that Sheppard had shot down before Kolya's escape. All of the windows were opened to hopefully air out the stench.

Buffy smiled at the Scoobies and Ronan as she took her seat, and nodded to Sheppard and his team and Dr. Beckett.

"Where did you put the bodies?" Elizabeth asked, starting the meeting.

"We put them in one of the empty storage rooms for now." Sheppard answered. He and the others had already told the Scoobies what had happened. While the others were worried about how the Slayer had reacted to her home being invaded, Ronan was angry that he'd missed all the action. "We'll get rid of them as soon as we get everything back and everyone settled."

"Aiden and Teyla raised some valid points while we were on our way back." Buffy said. "The timing of this attack was entirely too coincidental, and they figured that someone had to have told the Genii that Atlantis would be vulnerable. Aiden came to the conclusion that it was someone on the planet that we evacuated to."

"That can't happen again." Elizabeth said after considering that. "I think that we are going to have to follow in Stargate Command's footsteps and locate an uninhabited world to set up an alternate base. Buffy, do you have any ideas?"

The Slayer shrugged. "All of the uninhabited worlds that I've been to are uninhabited because they are uninhabitable. However, there are also large gaps in my travels, and it's possible that some of the worlds that I've been to are no longer there, whether by extinction or by culling."

"What about the planet where you got the memory photos, Buffy?" Dawn suddenly remembered. "You said that the Wraith wiped them out because they'd become too advanced. Do you know if the planet has been resettled yet?"

"I don't know." Buffy shrugged. "I could never bring myself to go back."

"We can start there." Elizabeth decided. "If the place is still uninhabited, we can send a team to determine what remains of the lost civilization and see what needs to be done."

"We also need some tighter security measures." Sheppard finally entered the conversation. "Kolya and his people got through by claiming that there had been an attack. We need to figure out some way to identify that it's actually our people before lowering the shield."

"What about voice recognition?" Willow suggested after a few minutes. Everyone looked at her, and she blushed. "Well, it's not like we can take fingerprints and retinal scans while they're still on the other side of the gate, and voice recognition can be calibrated for the gate's interference. If we integrate it into the control intercom systems, it could verify the speaker as they are making the request."

"That's...a good idea actually." McKay said grudgingly, while wondering why he hadn't thought of the idea himself.

"Good. Work on that as soon as possible. How are we on power?"

"The city is as powered as it's going to get without ZPMs." McKay answered. "All of the ECUs were filled to capacity, as well, and as soon as Zelenka is back, we're going to reroute the stored energy to power the city, so that the naquadah generators can be concentrated on powering the shields."

"We should also consider watermills, or something like that." Buffy suddenly offered. "I've come across a few worlds that have gotten that far, and it reminded me that we used to use watermills for electricity way back when on Earth."

"We'll see what ideas we can come up with, but finding ZPMs will remain a priority." Elizabeth decreed. "We'll keep looking, but we have to be on guard from here on out. Obviously, we have more to worry about than just the Wraith. From here on out, we will be more cautious on what we reveal of our capabilities to the people that we encounter."

With that, she called an end to the meeting, and they went out to help with the cleanup and the rest of the base continued to filter in.


End file.
